tldr: He left because of Snap.
-Just like the rest of us.
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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ubuntu is so popular when you stop using it you get to write a blog post
Is Ubuntu the new Windows?
They are in the same camp
It really isn't all that popular these days. It is running on the fumes of history like Windows is. The difference is there is little reason to stay with Ubuntu since it is just Linux.
It really isn’t all that popular these days
It's popular amongst regular linux users, I mean if I was to take your opinion seriously then someone clearly made a mistake here:
https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2024/technology#1-operating-system
Someone put Ubuntu in 3rd (after Mac and Windows) and Fedora in 12th under ipadOS and "Other linux based" 🧐
In terms of popularity amongst neckbeards who argue over linux distros then yeah, Ubuntu isn't that popular you're right
The stack overflow survey only captures a small portion of the population. It is going to be mostly corporate software development companies.
Ubuntu is still fairly common in the enterprise when it is required by corporate overlords but it is way less popular when users are given a choice. Ubuntu doesn't have much to offer these days and it is riding on inertia.
I have a general philosophy of reinstalling my systems from scratch every few months and honestly Ubuntu is among the easiest for that (Debian is close second, but corporate overlords freak the hell out)
Ok so you have no penetration in the corporate environment
SteamOS for Jan 2025 shows Arch with 9.41% and Ubuntu with 8.97%, so gamers are using it
Wikipedia shows it with as the only distro with a pulse
some pretty strong fumes eh?
Ubuntu no longer supplies value over Debian. Made the switch and can barely tell the difference. And no snaps.
I was about to install Ubuntu, which I've used before, but decided to try out Mint. About to throw the switch right now in fact. Hope it's a good decision.
Mint is great. I've been using it as my daily since mid last year after ditching windows.
Somehow I've drifted back to Ubuntu because of work. It's useful being on the same os as everyone else when troubleshooting, but I hate how I have to "fix" it on every fresh install, it just put up with broken snaps and constantly crashing security updates.
Honestly Arch was less work than this.
You are comparing Apples to Oranges
I would run Linux Mint since it is Ubuntu based but doesn't have the same issues.
Based as heck!
Ubuntu is just like Windows now, you have to run a debloater to make it usable.
The debloater? Debian.
Ditched Ubuntu last year for Hannah Montana Linux and haven't looked back.
Man I used to love Ubuntu. Then snaps...and it broke a lot of things. Now I'm on other oses. But I appreciate what they did to the Debian flavors of distos.
I fucking love the “friendship ended” meme. It makes me laugh every time.
It is the gold standard!
At those times I swear, I have a knack for avoiding problems before they appear.
Some years ago I migrated from Ubuntu to Debian. It was due to something silly, like defaults. Then I got pissed with Debian Stable, went to Testing, got pissed again... and for some reason instead of going back to Ubuntu I gave Mint a try.
Then people started talking about snaps a lot, and I gave them a try in Mint. This was in a potato computer so I could clearly notice how slow they were to start. Nope.
Then Ubuntu started forcing them every where, but by then I could simply say "Not My Problem®". Mint maintainers are clearly against snaps, and I'm happy with it.
Glad to see Õunapuu also found a way to handle the problem by changing distros. I'm too deep into the APT rabbit hole to get used to Fedora, but it seems like a good choice regardless.
They work reasonably well, you can update them whenever you want and they are optional. Your Firefox installation won’t suddenly turn into a Flatpak overnight.
This kind of heavy handed management of change is unacceptable. Ubuntu deserves all the bad publicity they’re getting from this.
Then again, change is always hard, so there’s no easy way around this problem. Once canonical has implemented all the major changes they have in mind, Ubuntu could be worth testing again. In the meantime, it’s hard to recommend it to anyone.
Fedora is clearly a safer choice even though it too changes frequently. I used to update my system through the GUI, but over the years, that method became unreliable, and eventually broke completely. I ended up updating through the CLI instead, which isn’t something I can remember to everyone.
I'm in the process of switching from Ubuntu/Mint to Fedora. I'm trying it on my laptop first; if that goes well, I've got 2 others to switch over.
I dumped Mint for Fedora over upgrade issues. No ragrets.
Unity did it for me. Moved to mint, never looked back.
LOL this is me. Bonus points for the immuteable versions. The first truly desktop linux that "just works" and dare I say improves over windows in basically every way.
There is a reason I put arch on my latest computer. I will give it a few months to be sure but I'm thinking of swicthing. details matter so when printing doesn't 'just work' in one program with a print dialog I know snap is not ready for ubuntus target.
i ditched Ubuntu for Void Linux LXDE. Void Linux has runit rather than systemd
This predates snapd
Disclaimer: you have to setup the wifi and enable logind
I don't get why you wouldn't want systemd honestly
There is lots of complexity creep. And i'm one person with a finite lifespan. So had to decide what to spend time on.
systemd is ideal for those running servers. I'm publishing Python packages and wanted to keep focused on that.
If you wish to work for me for free, cuz i have zero access to labor or funding, to upgrade my tech infrastructure, i could be a useful person to know.
Especially if you believe strongly i should be running much better infrastructure.
Systemd makes life easier though. Everything is automatic and chances are all you need to to is run systemctl commands. If there is a problem you can filter logs with journalctl.
If your setup works that's good but from my perspective systemd sounds easier. I also started using Linux around the time systemd was adopted so that's probably why is seems easier for me.
so does zfs, so does wayland, so does trying out every distro, so does trying out every text editor and associated plugins, so does trying out ventoy, so does GrapheneOS, ...
Everything makes life easier, but comes down to,
Linux isn't free, it costs you your time
Which can be reframed, what do you really want to spend your time on?
If i really really really had to answer that overly honestly, want:
-
my GUI apps non-blocking on heavy background processes
-
distributing out tasks to many computers and runners
None of which screams or necessitates systemd or zfs or wayland or trying out every distro, every text editor every plugin, ventoy, or GrapheneOS.
Not in a house with a fox with a crow and a bow a knot on a cot or relaxed in the snow, i will not eat never ending random suggestions Sam, i will never eat them Sam i am.
Kubuntu is all I need personally.
The major drawback is that Fedora is only supported for a year
As much as I dislike Ubuntu, I wouldn't use Fedora, sponsored by Red Hat, a US company, either. LMDE is the way.
All of Linux is sponsored by Red Hat
Amongst others, yes. But not every distro is red hat's testing ground, and not every distro operates under US jurisdiction. I'm sure you do actually know the difference.
Is not Fedora independent of red hat?
Except for the upstream (or downstream since they are bleeding edge) development, I always assume they are isolated from red hat influence.
Iirc, a crapton of RH ppl work on Fedora, since it's their "sandbox for RHEL" distro.
And while I fuckin' HATE what IBM/RH BS tries to pull in some areas, it doesn't prevent me from running Fedora derivatives daily.
Fedora is community lead for the most part. (Community leaders and all)
Hey guys, even LXC kinda sorta ditched Ubuntu. The creator gave away his baby LXD to Ubuntu and started supporting Incus instead.
Although i think it was just canonical that he wanted freedom from.
Ha, I had the same experience with Debian this week.
What happened with Debian? Just moved to Fedora? I ditched Ubuntu for Debian long ago, tried Fedora but prefer EndeavourOS ("polished Arch") these days.
Yea no hate, Debian is a fine distro. I've always bounced between Debian and Fedora after abandoning Ubuntu years back but recently I've been using a Redhat based distro at work and got sick of typing dnf when I meant to type apt.
You can alias it 😅 (I think, or is the structure of arguments too different? It could probably still be done with regex but I haven't tried aliasing with that complexity...)
Yea but last week I upgraded my laptop storage and decided to go with a fresh install of Fedora.
Arch time!
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