The Eeebuntu Project is an attempt to provide an Ubuntu Linux environment that works well ‘out of the box’ specifically on the Asus EeePC (although it is known to work on other netbooks.) One of the Eeebuntu project’s core developers, Andrew Wyatt (better known as “fewt”) is the developer of the Eee PC Utils, a package that brings Windows-like hardware ACPI management to Ubuntu.
In a recent blog post entitled “I give up,” Andrew lambasted the Ubuntu movement, claiming that Ubuntu “sucks” and that “they have the uncanny ability to take Linux back in time by piling code that doesn’t work on top of more code that doesn’t work until they have turned their OS into a garbage salad.”
Normally, rants like this can be found all over the place–railing against one platform or another–but when a devoted developer raises these kinds of concerns after investing months of his time into a project, it makes one sit up and take notice.
The question is raised every so often: Will Linux ever be accepted as a “third” legitimate desktop operating system? Do consumers have a need for a competitor to Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS? Pundits say that the window of opportunity for mainstream Linux has closed; when Ubuntu was new, fresh, and exciting, and Windows Vista was being nearly universally vilified, there was an opportunity for real mass market acceptance. Is it too late?
According to Andrew and many of the supportive commenters on his post, the answer is yes. While not claiming Linux itself is doomed, he paints a grim picture for the development of Ubuntu. It was, after all, supposed to be “the one” that brought Linux to the mainstream consumer desktop.
Andrew closes his blog post with a telling sentiment: “Maybe I should buy a copy of Windows 7, I hear that it actually works. How can we expect non-technical users to use this pile of garbage that is ‘Linux’?”
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