Ok - don’t get me wrong I still like Debian - I just do almost everything in Ubuntu. This statement is so classic I had to blog about it.
Linux.com | New installer gives Debian Etch an edge
I
f it’s true that Ubuntu is a Swahili word meaning “user too dumb to install Debian,” then I have to wonder if I’ll still be running Ubuntu when Etch gets released, because even I can install Debian now. If installing Debian has intimidated you in the past, keep an eye on Etch and its installer as they get nearer to launch time. They won’t intimidate you.
Apparently - the install is what is holding Debian back. That’s it. I mean now that they have a GUI installer - you should throw away Ubuntu and go back to Debian. I thought that wrong headed view of the world went out with a single RedHat distribution.
The reality is that it is not the installer that makes or breaks Linux. Seriously! I spend a half an hour yesterday helping a co-worker get his wifi card (Man I hate broadcom) working under Dapper. He had tried and tried and made no headway.
This is a classic Linux problem for new users.
You have some hardware and it doesn’t work. You don’t know why it doesn’t work. You don’t know how to make it work - just that it doesn’t work. Guess what - that sucks! You add on another couple of problems where you expect it to do something that is easy under Windows and eventually they give up.
So I’m excited that Ubuntu has lit enough of a fire under Debian to make a release in the sub two year release cycle. That’s good for everyone because it means that the foundation that Ubuntu is built on is still healthy and thriving. But - you are missing the entire point of Ubuntu if you think that the installer is the only difference between Debian and Ubuntu.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
A GUI install? WOW! Only 5 years late!
February 2nd, 2007 at 5:12 pm
When (or more like it, if) Etch ever actually gets released, it’s surely going to kick Ubuntu’s ass. I don’t honestly understand the point of Ubuntu, and I’ve been in an environment where it’s used heavily for the past year. Basically, dapper was good when it was released, but it’s old hat now. I use debian testing and it’s massively more up to date than Ubuntu Dapper, since it’s clearly testing. And when it becomes Etch, well, the packages will be more up to date. And that’s when dapper is less than a year old and hardly into it’s 5 year support life. Midway through that life, who is honestly going to still be using it?
But if someone could tell me what point I’m missing, I’d really appreciate it.