Hi Guys
It's been very interesting to read all the different takes on the Ubuntu name.
Whatever the wisdom of its original selection, everyone's familiar with it, and
to change now would probably be a retrograde step. However, the individual
release names must seem a bit odd to non-Linux users. What's wrong with, for
example, just calling the versions Ubuntu 11, Ubuntu 12, etc? That would
describe the sequence, which is all that really matters. Whether the version is
released in April or October shouldn't impact on the numbering convention.
Anything that helps to give Ubuntu the image of being "mainstream" can only be
of help. Quirky release names suggest that Ubuntu is perhaps intended only for
people "in the know".
Other recent threads have pointed out that the vast majority of Windows and Mac
users have never installed an operating system and would be extremely reluctant
ever to do so. Until Ubuntu, or any other Linux distro for that matter, is
widely available pre-installed on new hardware in high street shops, we're
never going to make that all important big step. As things stand at the moment,
if MS ever release a really flawed version of Windows or suffer a huge security
embarrassment, it will be Mac OS that people turn to as the alternative, not
Linux.
The diversity of distros which is such a strength of Linux is also a major
barrier to its mass-market adoption. Consider the position of, say, PC World.
If they took a policy decision to offer Linux pre-installed, how would they
decide which distro to use, when there are so many and the relative merits of
each change from month to month. At least with Windows you get the same very
narrow version options wherever you buy your computer.
Don't get me wrong, I want Linux to go mainstream. It is better than Windows in
practically every respect but, for all that, we appear to be unable to
literally give it away as far as general desktop users are concerned. This
indicates the strength of the MS marketing machine as much as anything. Since
we can't hope to match that in financial terms we have to take every
opportunity to broaden the appeal of Ubuntu. Ditching daft release names could
be one step in the right direction.
Regards
Nige
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