Piestar

I don’t use Desktop Linux.  I do use Server Linux (well, other people use it for me).  I also no doubt use it embedded in all sorts of devices that I may not even be aware of.  But I do not use it on the desktop.  This is a discussion of why not.

My first actual proper foray into the world of modern Linux (ignoring the occasional ssh account and random box) was back in ’06 (ish).  I run a small Internet Cafe and was planning to expand a bit so I needed a dozen or so new computers.  Now given the option of giving a sizable chunk of money to either A: Microsoft or B: The pub down the road, any conscientious citizen would prefer to support local businesses* rather than some big corporation.

So I decided to check out the latest Linux offerings, to see if I could realistically swap Windows for Linux.  As a DOS veteran, and a pretty capable programmer I was especially interested in the whole remote administration – imaging, updates, no annoying WGA (there is an oxymoron if I ever heard one).  I trialled numerous distros and asked quite a lot of people for recommendations and came to the conclusion that the closest candidate was the new kid on the block, Ubuntu. So I gave it a shot.

Unfortunately despite being the best of the group there were several problems prohibiting my usage of Ubuntu.  I was not terribly bothered as although I had been aware of FOSS for a while I thought it may be fun to get involved.  After all I had about 15 years of programming experience, and about four years running the Internet Cafe – spending that amount of time watching and helping normal users of all shapes and sizes use computers gives you the ability to see the world from a users perspective – a rare talent.

So I did what anyone else in my position would do – I typed up the ideas I had, what I felt were problems and ideas on fixing them.  Full of vim** and vigour I posted my thread – bad move.

What happened next was surprising to me, but probably unsurprising to just about everyone now.  The fanboys attacked.

Every single one of my points was ‘debunked’ – including such wishes as double-clickable .deb files, a non-verbose boot screen, reusable windows and many many more points which, incidentally, have largely all been made over the years.  Not a single point was allowed to stand unchallenged.

Obviously things got quite heated after a while.  While I was treating it as just your usual debate, and it is very like people who are used to a piece of software to reject change even if it is for the better (I should know I have been guilty of it on numerous occasions), I felt I should argue my corner.  After all it is an allegedly community driven development process and I am in a pretty good position to suggest ideas and have a captive audience of normal users to test upon.  The problem was everyone else was taking what I was saying personally.

After the mods started closing my threads (and me getting rightly pissed off) it was eventually declared that the General Discussion forum in the Ubuntu forums was not the place for discussing improvements to Ubuntu.  There were many forums for other subjects such as asking for help, posting wallpapers and even for such subjects as Christians and Ubuntu.  I tried to campaign to get a ‘Ubuntu Discussion’ forum added but was resoundly rebuffed – apparently there wasn’t the interest.

I checked out a few other distro’s and the results were largely the same – There was no place to give any feedback or constructive criticism!!! It boggles the mind that what is advertised as a community project does not seem to want the feedback of community.  At that moment in time I was an experienced programmer willing and ready to help the project, yet I was essentially told that my opinion was of no value and unwanted, and that critical opinions of Ubuntu were not welcome.

So I (eventually) created this blog to explore why such a great idea has gone so horribly wrong, and to document my adventure in the wonderful world of open source!

* Among other reasons.

** Nano, I am lazy like that.