Idea #5388: Try to encourage other distributions to form partnerships with Ubuntu.

Written by hgibson the 22 Mar 08 at 10:42. Category: System.
Related to: Nothing/Others. Status: New

Description

Reading the comments on ideas about this distro does that or this made me think about fragmentation in the open source community regarding the linux desktop. I know this is a sore issue.

How can we deal with this in a way that removes Ubuntu bug #1 without flame wars from the community ?

Do you remember what the word Ubuntu means ?

I would like to see a partner programme which is official and listed on the main Ubuntu web site.

A start in this direction would be to gather some information, such as;

1. What are the causes of fragmentation ?
2. What methods and means are available for more formal co-operation, if any ?
3. Do the various distro's support open desktop standards ?
4. If so, how and where ?

I guess it is flame on now... sadly.

UPDATE:

For more about the meaning of Ubuntu, read:

http://www.fehe.org/index.php?id=281

http://www0.sun.ac.za/stigting/projects.html

Very good article.

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Comments

doan wrote on the 22 Mar 08 at 13:19

What do you mean exactly? You think developers should only create things for Ubuntu? No: Ubuntu can learn from different OS's and apps. And don't forget: it is open source. If there is elsewhere another app / package that is better than the current in Ubuntu, just do ctrl + c and ctrl + v! That is the power of open source.

vexorian wrote on the 22 Mar 08 at 13:33

"Reading the comments on ideas about this distro does that or this made me think about fragmentation in the open source community regarding the linux desktop. I know this is a sore issue."

Uh, why are you trying to make it so catastrophic? There is no division in FLOSS, just people who like something more than the other. Except perhaps for Ballnux distros like Novell's, Xandros and other henchmen but those are the minority except for SUSE...

vexorian wrote on the 22 Mar 08 at 13:36

Then again problems caused by other companies making bad decisions like patent deals with MS are their own fault, canonical/ubuntu ought not to try to fix their mess and getting dirt they do not need.

The Linspire deal prior to their MS-covenant was already problematic for ubuntu, lest not make the same mistake twice.

kumailht wrote on the 22 Mar 08 at 19:28

i feel the open source community needs to team up and create applications.

for instance :

imagine the developing power of , ubuntu + fedora + x distro + y distro + 100 other distro`s
combined into one.

if the developers can work on one distro or a few distros that cover up the different types of os`s needed , they can spend more time on creating better products and introducing new features rather than copying from each other and developing what someone has already done.

if we team up , we can take over the desktop market.

10 minds are better than 10 divided minds doing the same project.

sebastien.worms wrote on the 23 Mar 08 at 01:49

I agree with kumailht : the more fragmented the distros are, the more work is done to do what already exists behind... instead of creating something really new...

jiu wrote on the 23 Mar 08 at 04:01

I think it's not a real problem, Ubuntu community should work at making ubuntu better while retaining coherency by integrating the best of the FLOSS ecosystem, and others are welcome to build on that for their own projects as well. Doubling up effort is always going to happen in this kind of world, but people doing things differently are aware of that.

jander99 wrote on the 23 Mar 08 at 08:37

The whole idea of Linux and open source software itself is that there can be many choices. You have no idea how many times me and friends battle it out over Gnome vs KDE. Or how many times friends have battled it out over Emacs vs VI.

With that said, I think The Linux Foundation could do a better job creating standards, with the input of users, developers, and distributions.

Just don't take away the choice.

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