Mark Shuttleworth Proposes Delaying next Ubuntu 382
Beuno writes "Mark Shuttleworth has proposed on the ubuntu-art mailing list to postpone the 'Dapper Drake' release by 6 weeks. He lays out the reasons pretty clearly: the delay should make the release a more user-friendly distro. He has also called up a community meeting in April 14th on IRC for community input. Is it really worth delaying the release for more then a month just to polish it out a little bit?" Commentary on this also available from the Tectonic site.
What does Ubuntu offer that Debian doesn't? (Score:3, Interesting)
Absolutely it's OK! (Score:3, Interesting)
Is it really worth delaying the release for more then a month just to polish it out a little bit?"
Yes, it's worth it. FTA, this isn't a release aimed at the "average Linux user." It's meant for enterprises, and it's important to get it right. It's something that can be a big point for the adoption of Linux in the desktop workspace, that this is a distro which looks good, has a wide range of language options, and has support. Spending a rather trivial amount of time getting it fully ready is what should be done, rather than try to hit an arbitrary "release date", only to, a few weeks later, do the MS routine of "here's the update package, Service Pack X".
Why the personality injection? (Score:1, Interesting)
Is it particularly newsworthy that it's Shuttleworth proposing this rather than anybody else? The reason I ask is that he was singled out as the person responsible over at Digg as well, and I see no point to saying that it was Shuttleworth rather than simply "Ubuntu release delay proposed". I know he's the founder of Ubuntu, but does everything have to go through a hero-worship filter before making it onto sites like Slashdot and Digg? It's pretty embarrassing to see tech-oriented sites act like teenage girls fawning over their latest pop singer pin-ups.
Re:Question? Answer. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:"Linux for human beings" (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So what's the message? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:"Linux for human beings" (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Out of sync (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Question? Answer. (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, it would take some extra time, but if you explained to the user the reasons behind it, it may open some eyes to the problems with DRM-like things (for the DVD - encryption), and certain types of patents (for the MP3).
Re:User friendly? (Score:2, Interesting)
I have never had problems using GRUB to boot various flavors of Linux, as well as dual-booting them with Windows (XP). The difference in my case is that I always searched or asked someone "does this installer set up dual-booting correctly?". When the answer was no, I tried something else.
On the other hand, bugs happen. But saying that it is the fault of GRUB, LILO, or whatever program happened to fail on you is not fair. It creates the impression that certain programs are inferior when the reality is that all programs have problems.
Great (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that's great. Just a while ago Dapper got a new urine-colored Human theme [ubuntuforums.org], and - all due respect to the people who put their efforts into making Ubuntu better - frankly, it's just horrible. If the release is delayed, they have a lot better change to fix the theme.
Another thing i'd really like to see in dapper is the new NetworkManager 0.6 [gnome.org] with its WPA and OpenVPN goodness. "Automatic network detection and configuration management [launchpad.net]" is high-priority target for dapper, and the new features in n-m 0.6 are needed by many users.
fix slow firefox (Score:2, Interesting)
See slow firefox problem in Dapper [launchpad.net] and the un-upgrade-able firefox 1.0.7 [launchpad.net] still vulnerable to security issues in Breezy. They also need to fix the fact that they cannot update firefox because everything else in the distro depends on it...
Multiverse (Score:1, Interesting)
On distributions like Fedora Core, you have to add a Russian warez site ("livna") to your yum configuration to be able to get MP3 support. These packages may be unsigned and full of root kits. It's a risky proposition.
Please. PLEASE! (Score:3, Interesting)
Give them more time; they've earned it (Score:5, Interesting)
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/dapper/+spec
I'll refrain from Debian comparisons, as they're not needed to communicate what stellar work the team has done here. Point is, Ubuntu users and admins ought to support this delay, for the same reason I support Ubuntu... the Ubuntu team simply has its shit together, moreso than that of any other freely available distribution.
Let Shuttleworth strategize to take on Red Hat, SuSE, and Vista--because Ubuntu actually has a fighting chance. That prospect ought to excite Ubuntu partisans (like me) and fence-sitters alike.
Re:What does Ubuntu offer that Debian doesn't? (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to use Debian on my laptop, but later switched to Ubuntu. Why?
It supports more hardware out-of-the-box, and it has newer GNOME packages than Debian. Things that I had to install in Debian (the touchpad, etc) were already installed.
I wouldn't use Ubuntu on a server though, everything I can do in Ubuntu I can do in Debian. Installing a Debian desktop is just more hassle than installing Ubuntu.
Re:Question? Answer. (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm a fifth/sixth grade teacher who still uses floppy drives and floppy disks with my students. It would be great if they could implement floppy behavior to be similar to what windows does. SUSE comes pretty close, actually, but I'm always afraid to try other Linux distros to avoid the hassle of floppy drives, since some seem to want to mount the drives, and mounting the drives (and unmounting them), while not impossible for a fifth grader to do, is next to impossible for 32 fifth graders to do and remember to do.
Anyway, I hope when they think usability, they also consider usability for kids.
Re:Really... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:"Linux for human beings" (Score:3, Interesting)
Your best if you're serious about running Linux is usually to get a Dell system. Their hardware is extremely vanilla --- basically Intel CPU and motherboard + a NVIDIA graphics card.
Re:Well, looking at Vista (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Question? Answer. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Question? Answer. (Score:4, Interesting)
Fluendo has released a licensed MP3 plugin [fluendo.com] for the GStreamer framework. It's already in Debian unstable, and I'd say Ubuntu probably will include it.
Re:Wow. (Score:3, Interesting)
This is not for noobs - hopefully Dapper will be.
First, the instructions with respect to paritioning, were misleading. I don't recall where exactly, but the wording certainly left me with the impression that I was going to fry my windows parition.
Second - I couldn't get root. Ohh yes, I could use Sudo (after I learned about it) but I wanted to edit the Grub menu. How to do that? Okay
Third - I couldn't get my Intel 2915 ABG wireless connection to work. I tried multiple things, tried reading how-tos on NDS wrapper, downloading drivers, copying drivers until
I gave up!
A system without connection is pretty much useless. Trying to get information by booting up Windows - then going back to Linux, was hopeless. So I hope that they polish a bit more and make it easier for us noobs.
Just my $0.02 worth.