On 21 March 2014 18:04, Joe Zeff joe@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.