Fedora Present and Future: a Fedora.next 2014 Update (Part I, "Why?")

[Liam Proven]

On 21 March 2014 18:04, Joe Zeff <joe at zeff.us> wrote:
> I'm guessing that you mean that Ubuntu is more popular, and has a much
> bigger installed user base.

Yes, that's right.

>  If so, it's probably because it's designed to
> be very user friendly,

True, I think it succeeds better there. I have been running Ubuntu
since the first release, on a huge variety of hardware, including some
non-x86 kit.

To be brutally honest, even with commercial live-deployment Unix
experience going back to 1989, I have /never/ got any release of
Fedora to successfully install on real hardware. I find the installer
that bad, and it's been getting worse, not better.

> doesn't make a big deal about some of the software
> restrictions that Fedora cares about

That's a fair point, but other distros cover that base too - Debian,
primarily. I could be wrong but I don't see that as a perceived Fedora
strength.

> and is, as I like to say, designed for
> "Windows refugees."

It's designed to be easy, sure - that's the reason for the "Linux for
Human Beings" strapline. It's not /remotely/ Windows-like, though, and
never really particularly has been.

>  Fedora, OTOH, is a much more geeky distro

Hmmm. I don't see that either. Not saying you are wrong, just I have
not got that message.

To me, the scale of hardcore geeky distros goes something like (less -> more):

Debian -> Slackware -> Arch -> Gentoo


> designed as a
> test bed for new ideas, programs and technologies


That's the primary message, yes.

>  that's not for people who
> don't like to tinker with things or who aren't willing to accept that not
> everything in their distro is really ready for prime time.

[Nod] Yup.

> Candidly, I'm expecting zorin (http://zorin-os.com/) to become a significant
> part of the Linux world once Microsoft finally drives a stake through XP's
> heart because it's a fork of Ubuntu designed to have a UI that looks as much
> like XP as possible, so that people can pretend they're still using Windows.

I have been looking at Zorin for a possible review recently. I wasn't
that impressed. There are /loads/ of Windows-like Ubuntu remixes
already - #1 is Mint, then there's Lubuntu; Xubuntu can be made into
it trivially easily. Zorin is no more Windows-like than any of them.

-- 
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