alex diavatis | August 14, 2012

Ubuntu + Gnome: More Than A Feeling..

This post was made with another stylesheet and it might be messed up!

Can you get emotional with software? Can you get happy with a new Gnome release? Can you get mad about Gnome3? Can you get sad because Ubuntu dropped GS? Can you get excited because GS will return in Ubuntu? Can you fight about KDE and Gnome?

Linux Desktop is nothing more but a Feeling!

Linux Desktop whatever is this, Unity, KDE, XFCE, Gnome; isn’t about getting the five billions users of Android and possible Chrome OS. Linux Desktop isn’t about having an Open Source box that runs thousands proprietary Apps on top. It isn’t even about the Open Source.

It is about the community. People do have Androids, but do they love them? Do they put stickers on them?

Don’t try to compete with Google’s products, you will lose. You will lose in any case. Even if you get the 100% of the market share. You will miss the point of the Linux Desktop and you will make it another “product on the shelf”. Let Linux Desktop to keep it’s genuine spirit, don’t force it, don’t push it more than it has to.

Proprietary software cannot compete Open Source. This battle is over. Now a second one (silently) is beginning. Commercial Open Source Vs Community Open Source. Let Linux Desktop to be on the second side.

Ubuntu + Gnome

There is no reason to praise the contribution of Mark Shuttleworth in Open Source. There is no reason to praise the impact of Ubuntu in Linux Desktop. These are un-doubtful facts, and we thank Mark and all the other guys that worked on this.

We used to love Ubuntu. Let us love it again. Even that small (or large, doesn’t matter) portion of people that like Gnome.

Support an Ubuntu Gnome derivative. This idea is about a year’s old. But it ain’t happen. Let it happen now, for Ubuntu 13.04. Gnome needs Ubuntu. Ubuntu needs Gnome. But more importantly WE want an Ubuntu Gnome distro.

So I am asking all people that want to see this getting real, to push it by comments on blogs, on socials and if they have some spare time to actively involved in Gnome and Ubuntu Gnome communities.

A mistake of me

Jono Bacon (for the people who don’t know him, is the Community Manager of Ubuntu) let a comment:

“I don’t believe Canonical is seeking a name…this is a community project” on the post “Canonical is Seeking a Name for an Ubuntu/Gnome Spin!”

The right title should be “Ubuntu Community is Seeking a Name for an Ubuntu/Gnome Spin!”. I let a note on the bottom of that article (just minutes after I posted it) to clarify that this isn’t a Canonical but an Ubuntu community effort. This title was a mistake of me. Unfortunately I cannot change it because it has been already post it automatically on socials and RSS.

I am sorry for it, and no reason to make it big deal! I guess people don’t just read titles!

 

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  • http://www.facebook.com/mr.e.cameron Earl Cameron

    couples of things, t’was a hard read sir, you are right on the fact that a million users and a sh!te tonne of propietary programs won’t make linux great because it is all about community and the openness thereof. I was really liking the post until you became an advertiser for gnome although not totally unexpected!

    • alex285

      Hello Earl,
      I am not an advertiser of Gnome. I am fan of Gnome. Promoting Gnome comes natural, I don’t make it in purpose :)
      And I am a believer that Gnome has a bright future ahead.

  • http://twitter.com/PeterAzP PeterAzP

    Why focus on an Ubuntu Gnome spin? I believe that is fairly uninteresting, just switch to Mint and use that. Ubuntu is Debian a Debian spin-off, so why care about an Ubuntu spin-off when you can just use Debian with Gnome 3 on top of it?
    Forget about the constant Ubuntu rants and let them do what they want with Unity, and use an alternative instead. Who cares about Ubuntu that much?

    • alex285

      Mint was the first Gnome distro to drop Nautilus. Mint is also depended to Ubuntu and if Ubuntu delays one Gnome release cycle (as they thinking to do), Mint will follow I guess. I think Ubuntu is the best solution for Gnome because I can’t see another Distro becomes so user friendly, solid and massively supported as Ubuntu any time soon. Maybe Mageia.

  • ScionicSpectre

    Yeah, we should encourage them to make a GNOME spin that keeps the core stack intact, since many users won’t ever use GNOME 3 otherwise. The situation with Ubuntu now is less than ideal, since you don’t get the full experience. If there’s Xubuntu and Kubuntu, there’s just as much reason for GNObuntu. I hope Ubuntu users can embrace GNOME at least as much as they’ve embraced XFCE as an alternative, and not shun it unnecessarily.

    Of course, my hope is that we’ll come up with better ways to manage software that will make traditional distributions seem antiquated. I hope for a day when people choose a distribution based on its installer, preinstalled software, and community- not based on package availability.