[HN Gopher] Today is Ubuntu's 20th Anniversary
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Today is Ubuntu's 20th Anniversary
Author : aquova
Score : 77 points
Date : 2024-10-20 21:44 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (lists.ubuntu.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (lists.ubuntu.com)
| linguae wrote:
| I believe Ubuntu has been a positive for the Linux community.
| While there definitely were distributions before Ubuntu that
| focused on the user experience (Mandrake Linux and
| Lindows/Linspire come to mind), there are many people whose first
| experience with desktop Linux was through Ubuntu. Although I
| personally prefer FreeBSD for my Unix needs and Debian if I need
| actual Linux, Ubuntu is the distribution I recommend to those who
| are coming from Windows or macOS who want to try out desktop
| Linux. The last few times I used Ubuntu, whether it's on actual
| hardware or inside a VM, it seems to be reasonably simple to
| install, has sensible defaults, and supports a wide range of
| hardware.
| benoau wrote:
| In addition to the direct impact Ubuntu had it also sits at the
| core of so many other popular distros which de facto
| standardized setting up and configuring so much consumer Linux
| software.
| musicale wrote:
| Agreed - Ubuntu is the path of least resistance for installing
| Linux on your laptop or desktop.
|
| But I still appreciate KDE-based Linux environments for their
| more straightforward, consistent, no-nonsense GUI, which seems
| to be derived from classic (pre Windows 8) Windows. Another
| thing that KDE seems to have gotten right is realizing that
| what makes macOS and Windows useful isn't just the GUI itself
| but the set of apps that use it and interoperate seamlessly
| with each other.
|
| Ubuntu seems to have more UI churn than I'd like (even though I
| prefer Mac-style menu bars, etc.) And Wayland (which KDE has
| also moved to for better or for worse) has never brought me
| happiness.
|
| I understand the motivation for Snaps, but I only want them for
| app store type apps, not for everything.
| musicale wrote:
| Also on the down side, Ubuntu seems to have lost the plot a bit
| by adding things like advertisements for Ubuntu Pro.
|
| I would like to submit PRs to remove these ads, but of course
| they would never be accepted.
|
| We've seen where the road of advertisements eventually leads
| (Windows 11), and it isn't good.
|
| Adding extra garbage into CLI sessions is something that I
| greatly dislike because 1) it adds distracting noise and 2) it
| can break scripts. Some non-Canonical offenders include GNU
| parallel and Apple's xcode CLI tools. I don't like how vim
| includes political messages either, even for causes that I
| might otherwise support, simply because it is distracting when
| I want to concentrate on getting work done. Tools should focus
| on the task at hand and avoid promotional messaging.
| meiraleal wrote:
| Ubuntu was really revolutionary and helped me bring hundreds or
| maybe thousands of people to Linux years ago. I wish they would
| still have the power to push things further and do the same to
| mobile.
| type0 wrote:
| Remember how it was called "linux for human beings". Now, not so
| much, I tried it recently and it's clear that desktop users
| aren't their current audience any-more.
| nacs wrote:
| I've been using it exclusively as my main OS for years with no
| issues. All hardware supported (better than Windows), fast and
| works out of the box.
| askonomm wrote:
| It's my favorite Linux distro precisely because it is very easy
| to use and install.
| unpopularopp wrote:
| I still have my official 4.10 Live CD. As a total oblivious
| person about the Linux world back then that was one of the
| biggest technology epiphany for me. Such a small thing yet it was
| just so mind blowing to run a full functioning OS from a disk
| that works everywhere (almost) in a "non-destructive" way. I've
| felt like a king to have my own OS with my own stuff on the
| locked down school computers. It was like finally I could do
| everything and it was thanks to Ubuntu
|
| (even though I know since that Ubuntu wasn't the first Live
| distro at all)
| sundarurfriend wrote:
| Ubuntu did a lot for the ease-of-access of Linux, and was the
| gateway for a lot of us.
|
| In the mid-2000s, getting professionally packaged CDs, one for
| Live Ubuntu and one for installation, with clear instructions,
| and having that load into an easy to use (relatively, for the
| time) OS installer, made the prospect of trying out Linux so much
| easier and more appealing, compared to downloading it on a
| torrent or trying to find a friend to copy it from. That was
| right away a positive first impression of Linux, and probably
| played a part in me continuing to try it out despite many kernel
| panics in the early days, and then eventually moving to Linux
| entirely.
|
| And along the way, I've been able to help out many others get
| into Linux and have an easier time of it as well. None of this
| might have happened if not for Ubuntu's attitude of actively
| reaching out to help new users, and the end products of that.
| thetyikergg wrote:
| Congrats Ubuntu!
|
| Ubuntu was a big factor in me getting into Linux as a kid in
| India. In an era where the only internet we had was expensive
| dial-up, Ubuntu shipping CDs all the way here was such a nice act
| of kindness!
|
| I was even able to evangelize people around me into Linux, since
| I was able to give away CDs.
| StableAlkyne wrote:
| Seconding this, I ordered a free 9.04 live CD as a kid and got
| started by putting it on my personal computer, which had a
| broken windows install that I wasn't knowledgeable enough to
| fix (and couldn't afford to reinstall)
|
| The kindness they gave by shipping that CD inspired a lifelong
| interest in computers in me.
| Coolbeanstoo wrote:
| Ubuntu was my first experience with linux and my first
| introduction to free software from around 2011, when I was 13. It
| changed the game for me, I ended up succeeding in my career so
| far quite significantly from the Ubuntu introduction to computing
|
| I do wish the canonical hiring process was less goofy, as I think
| I'm qualified for roles there but I ended the process early years
| ago and now I don't seem to be under consideration since
| neom wrote:
| I'm sure lots of people have lots of thoughts on them, but
| personally I'd like to give a shout out to Canonical. At least
| from my perspective in the early days of DigitalOcean the few
| interactions I did have with them were super positive, they
| seemed to really want us to win. I'll always have a soft spot
| Ubuntu and as far as community stewards go, on average Mark
| Shuttleworth has been good. Thanks Ubuntu Community! Thanks Mark!
| Thanks Canonical!
|
| To me Ubuntu is what Mandrake never became.
| singhrac wrote:
| Once long ago our family Windows computer had a motherboard
| failure and I convinced my parents to buy just a replacement
| motherboard in the right shape (maybe processor as well, now that
| I think about it), and we tried to fix it. While the data on the
| disk was recovered, we couldn't get Windows to recognize this as
| the "same device" so we had to buy a new license. Instead I
| installed Ubuntu and casually taught my mom how to use it - I
| figured it was worth a try before buying a license.
|
| She had no problems whatsoever using it for all of her work and
| barely noticed the change, and it brought new life to a computer
| that would have almost certainly ended up in a landfill 7 years
| early.
|
| Given the hard work of the Wine/Proton developers (and many, many
| others) I can only imagine the situation is even better now.
| musicale wrote:
| Ubuntu seems to have lost the plot a bit adding things like
| advertisements for Ubuntu Pro.
|
| This kind of nonsense is one of the things that people hate about
| Windows.
|
| Also adding extra garbage into CLI sessions is something that I
| greatly dislike because 1) it's very irritating and adds
| unnecessary noise and 2) it can break scripts. Some non-Canonical
| offenders include GNU parallel and Apple's xcode CLI tools. I
| don't like how vim includes political messages either, even for
| causes that I might otherwise support, simply because it is
| distracting when I want to concentrate on getting work done.
| kiwijamo wrote:
| Am surprised you're being downvoted. What you've described is
| in a nutshell why I don't use Ubuntu -- and why I stick with
| vanilla Debian instead. I left Windows to get away from certain
| things such as irritating advertisements and the like.
| shriphani wrote:
| I still have all the CDs from the shipit program - such a great
| project.
| tastysandwich wrote:
| Seems like everyone loves to hate Ubuntu lately. From the Amazon
| search icon years ago, to Snaps, Mir, "pro" updates (which I
| don't get the backlash about..).
|
| But man, I started using this distro 18 years ago? And I still
| use it today. I can tell you, it's gotten more usable, more
| stable, and easier to install, without (imo) sacrificing any of
| what we love about Linux systems. If you hate snaps you can just
| remove them.
|
| It's an OS I can easily recommend to beginners who want to dip
| their toes in the Linux world. They can install it without any
| help.
|
| And I get that so much is a testament to the software Ubuntu uses
| getting better. But it brings it all together in such a great
| way.
|
| I used Arch Linux for a few years. But I didn't really like
| having to check message boards for any breaking changes before
| updating lest my system become unusable... As a busy professional
| and dad, I don't see myself switching off of Ubuntu anytime soon.
| kiwijamo wrote:
| > If you hate snaps you can just remove them.
|
| The last time I tried Ubuntu it would automatically install the
| snap version if I tried to `apt install` a package. Is this
| behavior easy to disable? Do they even ship apt packages of
| stuff they use snap for?
| unpopularopp wrote:
| btw what happened to the fully snap-based atomic version aka
| Ubuntu Core Desktop? Last news was from February that it got
| delayed but no news ever since
| vegabook wrote:
| NixOS really makes Ubuntu (and all the other distros) feel old
| though. I mean I _love_ Ubuntu, and I've used it faithfully for
| 12 years, but once you get used to Nix, and granted, it's tough,
| but it's just an absolute revelation in terms of confidence in
| one's operating system, freedom to use so much more software, and
| not be worried about even very advanced configs. I could never go
| back.
| willmeyers wrote:
| Maybe ten something years ago my dad got a free Ubuntu boot disk
| somewhere. Curious how he got it because he doesn't work with
| computers at all lol, but he's a personable person and he meets a
| lot of people. Knowing I was into computers and programming he
| gave me the disk. He told me how he loved what "ubuntu" meant: "I
| am because we are". Ubuntu was my first distro and I am grateful
| for that.
| CarVac wrote:
| I went Ubuntu in 2006 and haven't looked back.
|
| Hopefully it'll be around for many more years.
| kwar13 wrote:
| For all the hate it gets, I for one love Ubuntu. I have been an
| Ubuntu user since 16.04, and it's the distro that taught me the
| most about Linux. Thank you Canonical. You guys are amazing!
| omani wrote:
| happy birthday ubuntu.
|
| a distro I liked in the past and now try to avoid whenever
| possible.
| atum47 wrote:
| My first Linux distro. I think Ubuntu helped a lot of us, Windows
| users, to migrate to Linux.
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