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Too Many Linux Distros Make For Open Source Mess
Posted by
samzenpus
on Thu Jul 19, 2007 03:02 AM
from the 300-flavors dept.
from the 300-flavors dept.
AlexGr writes "Remember the 1980s worries about how the "forking" of Unix could hurt that operating system's chances for adoption? That was nothing compared to the mess we've got today with Linux, where upwards of 300 distributions vie for the attention of computer users seeking an alternative to Windows."
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How many... (Score:5, Insightful)
One - they are binary compatible. (Score:5, Informative)
People really don't remember their history any more. There wasn't even really source level compatibility from UNIX to UNIX. There were two completely different operating systems (BSD and SystemV) both used as the basis for the different incompatible UNIXes. If you used, for example the "ps" command, the arguments would be different from one to the other. This meant that even shell scripts weren't portable. Claiming that the different Linux distributions are like different UNIXes is crazy when you compare the differences between SunOS4 and SunOS5 (also known as Solaris) which are bigger than the differences between RedHat 6 and Gentoo 2007. Damn youngsters.
Parent
...and it's not really a bad thing (Score:5, Insightful)
So while it may seem a hassle to test on a vast number of platform, it really makes you think about code robustness and quality in a different way. Of course, there is a long way to go in certain areas, not to mention universal third-party package management and desktop integration, but we're slowly getting there, too.
Parent
Mainstream vs Niche (Score:5, Insightful)
yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
maybe with this recent gathering of support behind ubuntu there is the potential for more of a standard-bearer in the linux world, at least in the eyes of those who only use windows/osx.
Lol... (Score:5, Insightful)
The truth is that the diversity is great. I don't want to see 1000's of distros pushed mainstream per-se, but there is often a reason for the variety. It suits someone anyway.
What I would like to see is more collaboration. Why is Redhat/Fedora building the cludgy system-config* and Suse sticking with YAST while Mandrake (who seems to be losing favor but has committed all their development to the GPL) created DrakeConfig, which actually almost worked.
Parent
Slashdot Feeds the Troll (Score:5, Interesting)
Forking of software development projects has interesting consequences,sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes neither. Having more than onedistribution... I'm not sure that "forking" is even the right word toapply to that.
Bruce
OMG it has to be STOPPED! (Score:5, Funny)
Do something!
'Tain't no fork, but a distro (Score:5, Informative)
I know there are exceptions to this rule (iceweasel, icedove) but in general, all distros contribute back to the same pool.
The only issue here is consumer choice, not wasted developer power (unlike real forks). And the Novell fiasco shows the problems
with having a single "one true way" distro - even if it is a community project (in which case its death comes from group
think and dragging its feet on decisions).
A distro, 'taint a fork
300 Linux distributions too many? (Score:5, Funny)
After all...
This. Is. SLASHDOT!300? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
BTW, where the hell is the option to respond to the original article?! I can only respond to an existing article now...
Parent
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
just because the top guy changes every once in a while, doesn't mean anything in respect to the quality of the guy sitting on top, they've still got to beat out the other plethora of distros.
ps: the reply button is in the floaty box to the left now.
Parent
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Until that happens, JoeLinux may as well only exist for Joe and his nerd buddies; to complain about having "too many distributions" is (to me) kind of like complaining at having too many McDonalds (or whatever your preferred chain is). They are all similar. They all serve mostly the same food, with mostly the same flavour. So you should only need one or two, right?
(Disclaimer: I checked for the existence of JoeLinux at distrowatch, but the closest match I found was "JoLinux," which is absolutely not the fictitious distribution to which I was referring)
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Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
So what else do those distributions serve except egocentrical purposes, especially since the majority consists from taking a large well-known distribution and only tweaking it slightly and, tada, Monkey Nutsack Linux is born.
Seriously, for most consumers, assuming Linux is still going after Windows and the desktop, more choice is not necessarily better, especially not when it numbers in the hundreds.
Parent
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
The fragmentation of Linux distros has nothing to do with it being slowly accepted as a mainstream OS; lack of specialized apps, shaky hardware support and the usual suspects are to blame for that. As well as the fact that for most people Windows and pirated Office Just Work(tm) (which they kinda do, come to think of it) so why change?
Parent
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
That doesn't follow. More is not necessarily better, but neither is it necessarily worse. Nor is less automatically better for that matter.
You mean like Knoppix, which I believe invented the LiveCD, and is still the recovery disc of choice for a great many of us? Or maybe DamnSmallLinux, which packs into 50MB and will run on just about anything? Then there's Smoothwall which vainly flatters the egos of its developers by providing a dedicated, hardened distribution capable of converting an old computer into a firewall router?
That's to name but a few. There are a lot of specialist distros out there supporting a specific activitity, interest or region.
If you're worried about users migrating from windows, then we have enough trouble drawing people's attention to the big names like Ubunbtu and RedHat. I doubt the existence of tomsrtbt or Astrumi are even going to impinge upon their awareness, let alone sow the seeds of confusion
Parent
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Feeding the troll... again... (Score:5, Informative)
Us Linux users are not mindless cattle to stampede the shops and get the latest and greatest distro there.
Instead, we are gentlemen of leisure; our systems are updated via network as soon as the new packages hit the server - we have no need to wait for them to be burnt onto CDs, packaged in pretty boxes, delivered to stores and sold at premium price, while we risk our lives in the stampede.
Then again, when you wait for a new version of your OS for five years or more, it is understandable that you want to upgrade immediately; you have tested your patience long enough. We, on the other hand, live upgrading what we choose, when we choose; our patience is never tried, never tested, never gone.
Oh, yes. I nearly forgot. If we really really want the CDs with Linux on them and can't afford to download the ISO, we simply order a bunch from Canonical and have them delivered to our doorstep. And we chuckle when they arrive, for we imagine you standing in line or stampeding the stores to get the bestest and latest, while we sip our drinks and surf the net while our systems upgrade.
Keep your mad rushes. We don't need them, we don't want them.
Parent
Re:Feeding the troll... again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, I'm so sorry.
Guess I forgot you could upgrade your Windows installation from 3.x to 9x to XP to Vista through Windows Update.
My bad.
Parent
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:300, 1000, it doesn't matter that much. (Score:5, Insightful)
But why would you want to invest a large %age of your time making something that well, is already done reasonably well by somebody else.
What would be nice is if the smaller distros start to take a role of really experimenting and breaking the rules.
OLPC is an example of what I'm talking about. They work from requirements, think outside the box and have come up with something truly amazing, something new.
So those slaving away on their boutique distro that looks like the rest, please, find something better to do, like really innovating. That's the only way to make your distro a break-out success anyway.
It's kind of like US presidential candidates. The field starts out pretty wide but you know early on most of them don't have a chance. The fringe candidates should at least make themselves useful, speak the truth and stir things up.
-- John.
Parent
Good point. Also with Windows (Score:5, Interesting)
The car analogy is a good one too. There are now far fewer platforms than there are models, e.g. in Europe VW has the Polo, Golf, A4, A5 and A6 platforms that are used by a wide range of models spread over several brand names (SEAT, Skoda, AUDI, VW). Ubuntu can be seen as using exactly the same approach, with Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu as brands but based on a small number of real platform variants. You can argue that the Linux world is actually more visibly attuned to the consumer market, while Windows is more like Communism - the State of Gates decides what the factories will make, and the end users put up with what they are given.
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