Arch Linux-based Manjaro 18.1.0 'Juhraya' Now Available With GNOME, KDE, or Xfce (betanews.com) 17
An anonymous reader shares a report: Manjaro may have lofty goals of becoming a successful company, but let's be honest -- users of the Linux-based operating system don't really care about that. Don't get me wrong, I am sure most members of the Linux community are rooting for the newly-formed company's success, but they are probably more interested in the excellent operating system itself. Today, Manjaro Linux 18.1.0 "Juhraya" finally becomes available for download, and it isn't without some controversy. You see, rather than just offer up LibreOffice like most distributions, Juhraya offers an alternative choice at installation -- FreeOffice.
"After six months of development, version 18.1 of Manjaro Linux is now available. Juhraya offers numerous improvements, especially with regard to Office productivity applications and package management. Another significant innovation in Manjaro 18.1 is the integrated support for FlatPak and Snap packages. For this purpose, the graphical package management tool 'bauh' (formerly known as 'fpakman' ) is now available to users," says Philip Muller, Manjaro developer.
"After six months of development, version 18.1 of Manjaro Linux is now available. Juhraya offers numerous improvements, especially with regard to Office productivity applications and package management. Another significant innovation in Manjaro 18.1 is the integrated support for FlatPak and Snap packages. For this purpose, the graphical package management tool 'bauh' (formerly known as 'fpakman' ) is now available to users," says Philip Muller, Manjaro developer.
Linux is Linux (Score:1)
Why would anyone be excited for a new flavor of Linux? Most Linux users are looking for the most bare-bones experience possible. All this frou-frou BS only adds problems, and Linux users know this very well, as we're usually the ones repairing other OSes that are built upon frou-frou.
What does Manjaro bring to the market? (Score:3, Interesting)
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I'm genuinely curious- what are some of the typical reasons that you'd want to change or switch drivers or kernels, assuming everything is working?
I run a basic install of Mint and I haven't ever had the need to switch stuff like that around, so I'm wonder what the reason(s) would be for making these kinds of changes. (??)
Not sure what IPR means, but the reasons I use Manjaro are:
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Sometimes you want to switch to/from free open source or non-free proprietary drivers.
Okay, but why? I understand the "what", I'm trying to understand the "why".
And sometimes you want to install a new kernel version or remove an old one.
As above, what is the goal of switching drivers or kernels? Is it to mitigate a compatibility issue, or make use of a particular feature, or...?
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There are optimizations in newer kernels as well as security updates.
SoftMaker (Score:4, Informative)
"FreeOffice"??? OH, it is SoftMaker Office, freeware version:
https://www.freeoffice.com/en/ [freeoffice.com]
This is not FOSS, it is a proprietary, restricted, binary blob. If you want to use that, great. It is nice to have choices. But it seems like an odd thing to add to a Linux distro, especially as a primary installation option. It doesn't even support all the OpenDocument Format files...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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At least Manjaro doesn't send search information to Amazon.
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uh huh, who knows what adware/spyware is in that blob?
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I tried FreeOffice/SoftMaker and have to admit, it would be very attractive to a lot of Word users.
File compatibility is supposed to be extremely good, and the interface would make any MS Word user feel right at home. Functionally it's friendly and configurable. Workflow is straightforward and most importantly, most of the tools and functions can be found right where you'd expect them. That's huge.
I use Libre Office at home and sometimes just finding the right place to change something is a hassle. Hunting
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I am happy when any company makes software for linux even if I don't use it.
It's not installed by default so I think it's pretty cool for this distro to include the option.
Juhraya offers choice at installation (Score:1)
Why does your anonymous reader consider this controversial?
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Because "FreeOffice" is a proprietary binary blob from SoftMaker or something (free as in beer, not free as in beards). It isn't Open Source, and therefore pollutes the distribution in some people's eyes. I'm sure they believe they have some pragmatic reason for choosing this over LibreOffice. We all know LibreOffice is pretty buggy and annoying, but there's an argument that simply being Open Source is better because of freedom (as in beards).
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I'm sure they believe they have some pragmatic reason for choosing this over LibreOffice.
I think I read that they got some sort of 'reward' for each user who upgrades the (somewhat crippled) free version of "Freeoffice" to a paid-for version.
website sucks (Score:2)
I click the download button and a popup appears with 97 options. That's annoying in itself. I click the "No thanks, take me to the download" and it puts me right back where I came from. Same result on direct download or torrent, xfce or architect.
Nice work, knuckleheads.