ubuntu-us-ohio team mailing list archive

[Michael Gilbert <michael.s.gilbert@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 9:00 PM, Joseph Zitt wrote:
> Y'see, I'm a big Linux aficionado, but this is the kind of thing that really
> bugs me about Ubuntu (and Linux in general). There's the big drumroll
> leading up to the release, the excited reviews about how wonderful things
> are, the excitement of downloading and installing the new versio... and then
> it doesn't work, and I ask questions, and I get "Well, yeah, that's really
> buggy. Go back to the old version."
>
> I understand that Ubuntu has a widely touted process of alphas and betas and
> release candidates and all that... but we have these failures all the time.
>
> What can be done so that there's a dependable testing process? Does anyone
> take pride in and ownership of the new releases? Do we really expect to
> reach World Dominiation if the user experience has these hurdles?
>
> My unfortunate experience is that when I want excitement and to feel like
> I'm Doing The Right Thing, I use Linux. But when I'm facing deadlines and
> need productivity without either excuses or detours to work around stuff
> that I can't aford to have broken, I have to depend on something else.
>
> How can this be made better?

Unfortunately Canonical chooses to base their releases off of an
unstable codebase.  They do this in order to ensure that they have the
latest shiny, which  they think is the key to winning the market.

I've always wanted them to base their releases off of Debian's stable
codebase (with a modest sprinkling of the latest shiny).  But I highly
doubt the current process is going to change.

In the meantime, you can choose Debian stable.  The problem is its not
quite as shiny since its intended to just work, rather than work with
lots of bling.  The Another downside is that Debian community is even
more technical/unforgiving.

As for your technical issues, here's some info on the numlock startup state:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=16891

Anyway, I hope this helps a little bit.  Best of luck with your Linux endeavors.