[Fsf-friends] Review of Ubuntu

[Praveen A]

Author : Carthikhttp://www.swaroopch.info/archives/2005/02/09/it-finally-hit-me-why-mepis-debian-rocks/#comments
Source : 

I forgot to say what I liked in Ubuntu, in particular : First off, the
community is great, and very helpful, and the tolerance towards
newbies is high.
Second, most of the apps and preferences are set in such a way as to
make life easier, and the OS more intuitive and immediately useful.
The Ubuntu devs seem to be putting some time into adapting the
programs for usability. For example, i have never seen better fonts in
a Linux system, and the defaults make sense.
Third, I don't want to switch on a later day, when Warren Woodford
decides or is forced to call it quits. I am suspicious of one-person
projects.
Fourth, Ubuntu is totally free and will remain so, but is still backed
by a company, Canonical, with lots of money being invested into
improving it. Debian and Gnome developers are on a payroll, and that
means a lot to me, since I know it is their job to improve Ubuntu - it
is not a past time activity for them.
Fifth, Ubuntu just worked on my laptop and desktop. I can't say the
same for MEPIS which could not boot me into a graphical UI, or setup
my wireless card "out of the box". That is important to me, since I
can learn more, only if I have everything running to begin with,
especially internet access. Now I know enough to install the driver,
load the modules etc manually, but to begin with, it's nice to get
some hand-holding (besides, isn;t that the way everything should work
- with minimal intervention?)
Sixth, To me, the philosophy behind the OS is important.  Ubuntu is a
novel venture in which a person and an organization are investing in
the future of free OpenSource software. I want to do what I can to see
that this is a success story - so that other organizations will invest
in Open source development. I wish Canonical all success, since they
do not have any Mandrake-like clubs, or MEPIS-like 'Pro' versions, and
since they provide the same OS freely as they do when they get
involved with professional support. It is good to know I have the best
my distro has on offer, and that I am not discriminated against - even
though I pay nothing.

Canonical is serious enough about spreading the word. They distribute
(read mail out) CD packets to whoever wants them, for free, across the
world. The sheer cost of shipping cds worldwide, any number of them,
boggles my mind. I received some 10 cd packs, and am lined up to
receive another 100 cd packs - each with professionally made and
packaged cds.

All this and just a general feeling of "this one's a good one" made me
choose Ubuntu as my only OS.
-- 
            "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels."
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