[PLUG] Canonical Not A Great Contributor

[Kunal Thakar]

On Sat, Sep 27, 2008 at 9:57 PM, Swapnil Bhartiya <
swapnil.bhartiya at gmail.com> wrote:

> I just learnt from a friend of mine that I should stop using Ubuntu as
> Canonical is not contribiting to the developmemt of GNU/Linux systems as
> compared to other players. He also suggested that since most of its stuff,
> or nothing, is upstream so we cant trust it. Also his argument was, being
> run by one man, who may tomorrow change his mind and stop support to
> Ubuntu,
> then what?
>
> So, I am bringing this issue to the lista and have people's opinion as to
> how much Canonical has contributed and how wise is the decision to use
> Ubuntu?
>
> Here is the article of Greg Kroah-Hartman, maintainer of the USB and other
> subsystems in the Linux kernel mentioning Canonical contribution to be 100
> patches viz a viz 230 by Mandriva and only 270 by Gentoo. Remember Ubuntu
> is
> quite young compared to Mandriva, Gentoo.
>
> http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/lpc_2008_keynote.html
>
> Please suggest.
> --
>
> --
> Swapnil Bhartiya
> http://ybfree.blogspot.com/
> Mobile: 09910956518
> =======================
> I use Free Software, what do you use?
> =======================
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IMHO Ubuntu does more than any other distro out there in popularizing Linux
as an Operating System and hence is contributing a lot more to open source.
I don't see how developing on upstream projects will make it more robust or
stable or better to use.

As regards to the fact that Ubuntu has a BDFL in Shuttleworth, I think thats
a boon more than a curse. If at any point in the future the community
becomes disillusioned by his decisions, there is always the option of a
fork. Going by his past record, it seems unlikely that there would be a fork
in the near future.

Kunal