Comments on: One Ubuntu to Rule Them All

By: the unknown Giant

the unknown Giant — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:40:01 +0000

I think the confusion with the naming will remain even after Ubuntu renames the different flavours to what you suggest (Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu KDE, etc.). Projects based on Ubuntu will (re)name their systems to Ubuntu + Name to ride the Ubuntu wave and pretend to be part of the Ubuntu family. There’s already a number of distributions that have their name starting with Ubuntu, i.e. Ubuntu CE, Ubuntu Mini Remix….

By: Boycott Novell » Links 09/03/2009: Google Android Enters the Desktop, German Government Funds Free Software

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:31:21 +0000

[...] One Ubuntu to Rule Them All I am advocating more change than is necessary. It does not need to go this far. The change could be as simple as just changing the name. That could be done quite simply. A side benfit would be one logo and Ubuntu could dispense with the depressing brown and orange theme that most users dislike. The distinguishing feature would not be the theme, but the desktop itself. [...]

By: linuxcanuck

linuxcanuck — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:22:40 +0000

Ubuntucat,
Good feedback. Thanks. However, nothing could be more confusing than the status quo. Kubuntu and all of the other *buntus just don’t rate being given a dumb name that means nothing other than somebody thought it to be a cute play on the word Ubuntu, which actually has some meaning. It is no longer cute and distros with cutesy names don’t last. I don’t mind Ubuntu KDE.
As for the CD idea, it is long time to move to a DVD release whether it is as I laid it out or not. Too many users are ticked when something stops working when they upgrade because a driver was cut in order to fit the offering onto a CD. If you are going to go to the trouble of downloading a DVD you might as well get more than just KDE or Gnome.
So what would you call Ubuntu without Gnome, when the user replaces it with LXDE? If it is still Gnome then so should Ubuntu with KDE. If not, what is Ubuntu with LXDE instead of Gnome?

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:45:29 +0000

Your idea is well-intentioned but way off the mark.

With Ubuntu being the most popular distribution (your own assumption), it’s actually less confusing to new users the way it is now.

That new user hears “You should use Ubuntu” and Googles Ubuntu, downloads it and installs it. That’s it.

If we did things your way, the new user would hear “You should use Ubuntu,” would Google Ubuntu and not know whether to go with Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu KDE, Ubuntu Fluxbox, Ubuntu Xfce, or Ubuntu IceWM. Or instead of downloading it, the new user buys a DVD and is presented with all these gobbledygook choices at installation time too. Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox, Xfce, and IceWM might as well be dihgale, fjnrealngtia, SNDJGKQE, ASJNVK, and votpgnev to the new user. They mean nothing except confusion.

If you want to prevent confusion, it’s better to keep it the way it is now. It’s actually part of how Ubuntu became as popular as it is now—single CD, few initial choices, sensible defaults.