BSBlog: Is Ubuntu an Operating System?

“Is Ubuntu an operating system? Last week at EuroOSCON, Mark
Shuttleworth gave the closing keynote outlining what he believes
are the major struggles faced by the open-source/free-software
community. During his talk, it became clear that Ubuntu is trying
to achieve a radical shift in the software world. Ubuntu isn’t
trying to be a platform for mass-market application software: it is
trying to be the primary provider of both the operating system and
all the application software that a typical user would want to run
on his machine. Most Linux distributions are like this, and I think
it is a dangerous trend that will stifle innovation and usability,
or even worse make the desktop irrelevant.

“Mr. Shuttleworth’s initial point was one that few people
disagree with: that software installers are bad for users and
usability…”

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