Published at LXer:

To write it down clearly: I don't like clones. There are too many distro's out there as it is. Over the last years I have had many people ask me: I have tried Distro X, Y and Z, can you help me? Just a while back a colleague told me, I have upgraded Ubuntu and now my server won't work, can you help me? Or constantly I get people telling me, I have tried Clone of Clone X, Y, Z, it looks nice, but then I upgraded and it hosed my system.

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I can't say the author does not have a point ... but I can say that the author is likely biased towards Novell. Personally, I'd rather see Novell banned than Ubuntu ...

Either way I think that although the points made do have some support and make some sense, it isn't a whole lot. If the clones are truly useless and damaging they will likely destroy themselves. So, no interference is necessary. Also, the GPL allows for them, and for good reason. Ubuntu does suck IMO, but banning it is not what I had in mind.

If all of the devs that create the million and one distros would work on the main big distros like Debian, Slackware, Suse, Red Hat/fedora and Gentoo, Linux would probably much better than it already is.

Rather than wasting all of the time and effort on creating clones/children distros.

I agree with banning Novell, I found rather useless and annoying in 96... Can't imagine what it's like these days...

I can definitely see where the poster is coming from... He brings up several good point regarding Ubuntu that I hadn't considered before.

On the other hand, I got my first LPIC in 98 on Red Hat... It wasn't "desktop ready" back then. When I had finally had enough of Windows and decided ready or not I was going to use linux for everything I started with Debian... and yes, now I have been using Ubuntu. I was spent quite a bit of time as a purist, scoffing at those buntu'ers.

What made me change? My wife had a Mac that committed suicide... and I got her up and running on a new computer. Since I did not want a new full time job consisting of fixing her computer, I went with Ubuntu - on a recommendation from a friend who had a similar predicament.

In the end... it's been rock solid, I have to give it to them for putting the time in and developing a freaking GUI for every imaginable utility out there. I mean, yeah, you part the curtains and it's still basically Debian but it's a comfortable switch for most "normal" people. I think that's what the devs at Ubuntu have been going for...

Even though this guy might be right about clones, I think that some do have their purpose and have shown it. For example, something I have learned is that before a linux box is complete, there must be a knoppix disk next to the machine. I've found it to be the best live for fixing. Yet this is a clone of Debian.

As for Ubuntu, they kinda contradict. They were supposed to be a user friendly OOTB Linux distro. Their problem was that they use Debian unstable every 6 months. I think they would do so much better just using Debian testing instead. It changes enough with that 10 day period of testing. (I think this is right, but please correct if not)

I think one thing he doesn't put into perspective is the fact that most people that are using Ubuntu (atleast today) are probably new to Linux and don't know have the ability to use vim and hack vtwm to their likings so it works without complaint. (yes I know its old, but its proves the point of my statement) They want a nice easy to use system that installs easily and can be used without and mods. I don't think someone coming from OSX or Windows could figure out how to install and use slack or gentoo without putting in the hours that a linux hacker does. (Hell, I've been on linux for 1.5 years and the best I can do is Debian for about a month, then I just F**k it up to a state worse and windows ME) Also, Ubuntu did bring linux onto Dell computers. That is a plus.

I think that this guy should just worry about Yoper and just tell people to move to Debian or he should just gain some knowledge of the distro.

Reason 5: Yoper

IOW- "I made my own distro and Ubuntu stole the spotlight. No doubt I'm pissed!"

Maybe you should try making Yoper better than Ubuntu instead of just ranting.

EDIT: Just checked, and Yoper isn't even on the top 100 chart on DistroWatch. You'll be a long, long time putting Yoper at number 1 by banning your superior competition.

I won't say a word against Ubuntu. I quite like it. Dual-booting it with Slackware makes a good contrast. I'm using Firefox 3.5 on Ubuntu 8.04-amd64 at this very moment. I prefer Slackware, but then again, I prefer beef but also eat chicken, lamb, and pork.