On one disk (160GiB):
FreeBSD
OpenSolaris
Fedora
Kubuntu (removed)
OpenSuse
Xubuntu
Gentoo (removed)
PCLinuxOS

With those products, I spend all my time compiling, and googling to solve problems. Not big problems, but a bunch of little ones (for example, all of them, except FreeBSD, start panicing when I show them a printer)…

And they are all SLOW…
And they are not less buggy… (XFCE can reset computer under FreeBSD like a vulgar MS-DOS)
And they are not more user-friendly…
And they are not less confusing (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu…!?)

On the primary disk (80GiB, SAME computer), I have:
Windows98, NT4, XP,
(+another Win98 running on a i486-DX2, 66 MHz, 512MB, 1GiB IDE drive: I was surprized to see it working!!)

So I can compare. And I assure you M$soft worths the money: it is REALLY agile!

In my case, Ubuntu introduced me to gnu/linux. I had been hearing about gnu/linux for ages and I tried several times to install it, unsuccesfully. I tried Red Hat (before Fedora was around), I tried, debian, and slackware and several other distros. With each failed install I gave up, until my curiosity would return. Then I after hearing all the hype around Breezy Badger, I tried it. It not only installed easily, it got my screen resolution right. Because of the things I learned from Ubuntu and it’s friendly community, I was able to try and install other distributions. First it was Kubuntu, then xubuntu, then fedora and then a slew of other distros. I no longer use Ubuntu, but I have two main computers I use everyday for work purposes. One has Freebsd which I like a lot, and the other has Fedora core with KDE at the moment (will probably be switching to pclinuxos at the end of the month). I also use xp virtually on my Fedora box, because there are still programs that I need, for my work. But I love Ubuntu and I am always grateful to the Ubuntu community for providing me with the path to gnu/linux and to unix. Thanks to Ubuntu, I was able to go from being someone who could even get gnu/linux to work, to being someone who is using Freebsd and fedora on a regular basis. And even though I don’t have Ubuntu installed, I still find many of the answers to my questions in the Ubuntu community. I also, installed Ubuntu on my 80 year old mother’s computer and my sister in law’s crappy celeron laptop with no problems and as a result, I don’t have to make the monthly house calls to clear their computer’s of all the adware and virus that accumulates on non-computer savvy users windows boxes. In fact I’ve rarely had to answer the, “this isn’t working”, questions from them anymore.
So when you guys are putting reporters down for using Ubuntu as an example, just remember that Ubuntu provides a great entry point to gnu/linux for many people and that Ubuntu is largely responsible for several big computer manufacturers shipping computers with pre-installed linux. And thanks to their work, the Ubuntu community and developers have lit a fire under the behinds of many of the other gnu/linux and bsd distros, forcing them to concentrate on user friendliness and promotion! It’s pretty safe to say that all this hype that Ubuntu is getting, is largely responsible for the huge number in gnu/linux adoption.
And one more thing, the term Linux means nothing to the average computer nube, it’s a cloud. If you think that Vista’s 8 flavors, is confusing to the average person, imagine what the shear number of gnu/linux distros must do! One or two distros have to be the poster-child to make sense out of the madness for the first time user. Ubuntu is perfect for this and can provide the entry point for the average person to the wonderful world of foss.

The school’s Microsoft licence is for the ‘whole fleet’; i.e. if you have 300 computers, but only 200 of them run Microsoft Windows and/or Microsoft Office, they have to pay for 300.

This makes it pointless to engage with a school, despite it being technically easy to do so.

You do better to stand outside the school gates with a cake-tin of Ubuntu CDs and give them to the kids as they go home.

Personally I use mainly PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu. While I find PCLinuxOS easier to install, more “Windows” like, and features packed, I tend to use Ubuntu more. Why? The community!

As Phil above has already mentioned, you almost always get an answer for your problem when you do a Google search, and if not, post your question on the Ubuntu forums and you will be swarmed by answers! Very seldom you receive elitist comments and got yourself disheartened; instead encouragements are everywhere. The receivers would then very likely to reciprocate by being nice and helpful to others. Though as a beginner, I spend at least 1-2 nights per week, log into the forum and see who I can help with however limited knowledge I have to repay the kindness that I have received. That’s the power of the community!

Keep up the good work – more *nix users, re-use of old machines that would otherwise be hazmat piles and helping schools – hard to imagine a better act of altruism.

The fact of the matter is that you are going to have 1 or 2 distros that may break into the mainstream which will be good for ALL distros. For whatever reason Ubuntu has been able to do that. It doesn’t matter if your distro can put your pants on for you in the morning. When software makers start paying attention to Ubuntu or WHATEVER and building software for Linux then ALL distros will benefit.

And to be honest sometimes I can see why Ubuntu has taken the lead. I use Ubuntu for desktop and laptop and used to have Fedora as a server. When I would search for a solution for Fedora 7/10 times I would find the solution on the Ubuntu forums via a google search. This type of stuff ends up drawing people to Ubuntu. Why not just use it since thats where you find the answers. You can’t be mad at them for having a community that seems to be way more active then that of the other distros or even general linux. If you want that type of hype for your distro then be willing to answer all the noob questions that come in.

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