i didn't read the links, but what you wrote was interesting. On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 12:18 PM, Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com> wrote: > > http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/tale-two-distros-slackware-1337-and-ubuntu-11 > > NetworkWorld.com Community > April 28, 2011 > > A tale of two distros: Slackware 13.37 and Ubuntu 11.04 released > > By Joe Brockmeier > > After months of development, one of the most important Linux distributions > was released today. Of course I'm talking about Slackware 13.37 [1]. Oh, and > the Ubuntu Project released 11.04 today [2] too " though by reading the > press release you'd never know Ubuntu was actually a Linux distribution. > > I kid a bit about Slackware being more important than Ubuntu " but it > deserves a shout-out today just as much (if not more) than the Ubuntu > release. Slackware is the longest-running Linux distribution (beating Debian > by a few months) and was instrumental in putting Linux on the map. Other > distributions may have eclipsed it in popularity " but without Slackware a > lot of people might have missed out on Linux. It paved the way, and > continues to offer Linux for the fun of it [3]. The consumer-facing release > from Canonical doesn't even mention Ubuntu's heritage " positioning 11.04 as > a release of "the Ubuntu operating system," rather than a Linux distro or > giving props to the Debian base it's built on. It's OK, what's a little > secret between friends? Android changed its name when it left the nest too, > and it's doing OK. > > If you skim through the release notes for Slackware 13.37 [1] or the press > release for Ubuntu 11.04 [2], it might be hard to believe we're essentially > talking about the same operating system. Despite differences in user > interface, management tools, and default applications Slackware and Ubuntu > still share most of the software they depend on " the Linux kernel, the GNU > utilities, X.org, and so on. But from there, they diverge quite a bit. > > Whereas Ubuntu 11.04 is going out into the world with a revamped desktop > interface and a lot of features designed to simplify using Linux, Slackware > offers a very similar installer and management tools that it did in 1993 " > which is to say, very minimal tools. > > This is Linux's weakness and strength. If you could channel all of the work > that goes into various Linux distributions into one project, it would be > unstoppable. It would also be unbelievable, because the nature of open > source means that everybody can (and will) do their own thing. Some days, it > seems like a shame " but the ability to do your own thing means that Linux > can satisfy the needs of the many, and the few. Slackware Linux may not be > for everybody, but neither is Ubuntu [4] " and it'd be a damn shame if we > only had one or the other. > > It's OK if Canonical wants to distance Ubuntu from Linux when it does the > marketing thing, and try to jazz up the user interface in yet another > attempt to conquer the desktop (and presumably other consumer devices). > Maybe they'll succeed where others (many others) have failed. Meanwhile, we > still have Slackware keeping the faith and providing its audience with the > no-frills Linux experience that the "leet" still love. > > > Links: > > [1] http://slackware.com/announce/13.37.php > > [2] http://www.canonical.com/content/ubuntu-transforms-your-pc-experience > > [3] https://lwn.net/Articles/434815/ > > [4] http://www.linuxjournal.com/video/unity-3-rants-and-tip > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20110428/9e2c5a71/attachment.html>