While I agree entirely with Daryl regarding eBox's change to Ubuntu, I can answer a few of your questions, Daryl.
Most of us experienced Debian admins can recreate our own eBox type setup without needing to use eBox. The typical Ubuntu users would not have a hope in hell of configuring a similar server from scratch. So from a marketing standpoint, does it make sense to make a fully integrated server product (eBox) for an audience that already knows how to build fully integrated server products (Debian admins) or does it make more sense to build the product to reach an audience (like Ubuntu Users) that would not have a clue how to do it on their own? The Ubuntu market presents a much larger target market for an integrated product like eBox. The change to Ubuntu (when they stopped Debian development with Sarge) has resulted in my leaving my eBox installs (which were done for convenience) and migrating those installs to a true Debian Etch based install. But like you, I am a Debian admin capable of doing that. I created on properly configured Debian Etch server, then using the resources available at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive, I have created a setup that can be easily replicated (main reason I used eBox in the first place) that is entirely Etch Based. I do not have the nice web interface that eBox offers, but I am able to recreate almost all the functionality (albeit not as pretty) using webmin. The only real downside to the folks developing eBox for making the change to Ubuntu is the loss of knowledgeable experienced Debian users to help them troubleshoot problems in their product. They will suffer hundreds of newbie questions being repeated time and time again ("it doesn't work - help me fix it"). If they have the patience to deal with those users though, the potential for their project to grow and be adapted in more installs grows significantly. The upside for making the change to Ubuntu, which is huge, is the gain access and exposed for their project in a community that is low skilled (so an easy to install and use product like eBox will be in high demand) and are almost religious in their loyalty to Ubuntu. These users will not consider solutions (SME Server, ClarkConnect, etc) that are not Ubuntu based - simply due to the fact that "Ubuntu Rocks!" Also, many of the Ubuntu users fail to recognize the gap that has developed between Ubuntu and Debian, so they still mistakenly claim that Ubuntu is "Debian made better". They do not understand the fundamental differences between the two distributions. So while I, like you Daryl, would prefer to see eBox stay on Debian, I understand entirely the reason they are moving to Ubuntu. They are leaving us (Debian admins) for a better market for their product (less experienced users) and will probably have tremendous success in that market. We can only hope that some of the innovative work they have done will at some point filter back out of Ubuntu into the Debian package system at some time in the future. Jeff _______________________________________________ Ebox-user mailing list [email protected] https://lists.warp.es/mailman/listinfo/ebox-user
