Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 1st Apr 2007 15:00 UTC, submitted by falko
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Member since:
2005-07-24
"""
it's on my mind with so many people hyping Ubuntu and denigrating Debian
"""
You are reading something into my post that is not there.
I'm not denigrating Debian.
Canonical has done some very common sense things on top of a solid Debian base to make it appeal to a broader audience. And they have cultivated a warm, friendly, knowledgeable, and ever helpful community to help new Linux users get started.
They've done nothing that was not obvious to anyone who really wanted to popularize Linux and they have done nothing that Debian proper could not have done.
*If* Debian had wanted Ubuntu-like popularity they could have achieved it if they had been willing to do the very common sense things necessary to attain it.
So I call "sour grapes" on those who moan about Ubuntu's popularity.
But it is important to remember that this is all done on top of a Debian core, and that the relationship *is* quite symbiotic.
Universe is community supported, yes. And that likely does mean the Debian community, of which Canonical and Ubuntu users are a part.
If Debian topples under its own weight it would be a great tragedy, but hardly Ubuntu's fault.
In fact, it seems to me that as the first really strong Debian based distro, Ubuntu has given Debian a badly needed kick in the pants, a complimentary reality check, and that Debian is better off for it.
Personally, considering the family of distros which are based upon Debian, I honestly think that Debian should consider adopting a style similar to the Linux Kernel.
By that I mean that perhaps they should formalize their position as a proto-distro, continuously developing Debian Unstable and Debian Testing, letting other entities do the polishing and final release work, and not try to do end user releases themselves.
Edited 2007-04-02 07:11