Soliciting Input For a Linux Review
by Ryan Smith on February 6, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Ryan's Ramblings
One of the things we have been wanting to do for some time now is to do a proper review of Linux as an end-user operating system. We have done articles on Linux in the past relating to performance, but never a complete OS review.
A Month With a Mac, our article on the Mac experience was very well received and we would like to do this again for a Linux review. I, a Linux novice, will use Ubuntu Linux for a month as my primary OS in order to capture an idea of how the Linux experience stacks up, and how it compares to the Mac and Windows platforms.
Now the reason that we're soliciting advice first is due to a matter of timing. Ubuntu is on a six-month release schedule with the next version due in April. If we were to start our month-long experiment next week, our review would not be ready until the middle of March, only a month or so before the next Ubuntu release. On the other hand if we wait for the next version of Ubuntu, a review would not be done until at least the late-May/early-June time frame.
So we would like to hear back from our readers and Linux users. Would you rather see this kind of a review done sooner, or wait another 2-3 months for a review done with a newer version of Ubuntu? This isn't a straight-up vote, but we'd like to take your opinions under serious consideration, especially since we aren't intimately familiar with Ubuntu and what the next version may bring.
Please add your comments to this blog post, we'll get back to you next week to let you guys know if we're going ahead with our experiment or not.
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tetrahedrons - Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - link
I'd like to see an Ubuntu review by a newcomer. To make it complete, though, at least two distros should be compared - and additional comparison of Gnome and KDE environments are warranted. I'm thinking along the lines of another relatively complete distro, say CentOS.Ryan Smith - Thursday, February 7, 2008 - link
That's something we had considered early-on, but ultimately decided to pass on. We want to do one month with just one OS to keep things simple and to the point, so we're going with the most popular and user-friendly distro, and right now that's Ubuntu with Gnome.It does bring up an interesting point about so much variety though, which is something we'll be tackling in our article.
Calin - Thursday, February 7, 2008 - link
After this article is complete, you might try to test a different distribution - but one operating system for one article is plenty.We do expect intermediary results ;)
InternetGeek - Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - link
I think that's a bit ambitious. I can agree with two or even three distributions being compared as they do then do differ. SuSE is better for the enterprise while Ubuntu seems the choice for the home desktop.A separate one would be fine for Gnome and KDE. At least in terms of usability and other aspects.
A comparison to Windows and OSX would really sweeten up things.
InternetGeek - Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - link
I think that's a bit ambitious. I can agree with two or even three distributions being compared as they do then do differ. SuSE is better for the enterprise while Ubuntu seems the choice for the home desktop.A separate one would be fine for Gnome and KDE. At least in terms of usability and other aspects.
A comparison to Windows and OSX would really sweeten up things.
Polynikes - Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - link
I doubt there will be any ground-breaking changes in the next release of Ubuntu that would make for a significantly different experience using the OS.dm0r - Thursday, February 7, 2008 - link
I agree with you.I think there will be more Aesthetical changes than other things.I'd like to see the review soon.TIAcrimson117 - Friday, February 8, 2008 - link
For the vast majority of users, aesthetic change are what they notice most in upgrades!pzkfwg - Thursday, February 7, 2008 - link
Agreed tooHilbertSpace - Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - link
How about you review it now, and then include a review of the upgrade process too, as that is something I find to (at times) be a challenge with linux distros.