Microsoft's inside man in the Linux camp. While Canonical (the company behind
Ubuntu Linux) appears to be a pro-open source company, in reality they are a Redmondian agent trying to kill Desktop Linux. The Linux crowd, desperate for corporate support as always, fell for the ploy, ignoring all the warning signs:
-In their first steps, Canonical tried to be subtle. They just repackaged
Debian -UNSTABLE (read: buggy, incomplete code) instead of Debian -STABLE, and adopted a 6 month release schedule, to ensure bugs won't get
ironed out. The Linux crowd ignored these little details and cheered for them.
-Some time later, they started bundling
bleeding edge stuff like PulseAudio, and also made sure that clicking the "upgrade" button will trash your computer. "Have we gone too far and risk of our ploy being exposed?"
Shuttleworth (
Canonical's CEO) thought. However, the Linux crowd mumbled something about "teething problems" and continued to cheer for Ubuntu and Canonical. Shuttleworth was happy.
-Taking it another step too far, Canonical started to mangle the Gnome UI, and then released the worst interface ever (Unity). Surprisingly, this time 'round, the Linux crowd woke up and abandoned Ubuntu. Instead, they moved to
Linux Mint, an Ubuntu-based distro which has all the problems Ubuntu has but lacks the Software Center (for whatever it's worth). You can't make that stuff up.
What about Debian -STABLE? It still exists. If you are smart enough to ignore the Ubuntu/Mint fanboys.
Example:
Ubuntu fanboy: Look how cool my Ubuntu is. Wha... Where does this Xserver crash came from? Anyway, I guess I can live with that. (6 months later) Look a new version called Ubuntu 13.04 "Sleeping Skunk" came out, I ll just click the upgrade button and... Oh noo!!! (computer fails to wake up after the upgrade, and after
a 3 day expedition on ubuntuforums the computer now boots without WiFi and sound). I hate Ubuntu and the Linux operating system. Windows foravar!
Me: Have you tried
Debian? You do know that Ubuntu is based on Debian -UNSTABLE which means
buggy and incomplete code?
Ubuntu fanboy: But some guys on the internet told me Ubuntu is da shit!