Why are Snaps so Controversial?

As the great Snap debate rages on, we need to understand that two major mindsets to realize that no one is truly right or wrong. Here are some thoughts to help you understand that we should not be fighting about #Snaps...just do what you want with your computer.
#Ubuntu #LinuxMint

00:00 Introduction
01:45 The Neckbeards
04:20 Suits
06:30 Conflict
12:42 Conclusions

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[lucasbrges]

Linux Mint just fixed APT's incorrect behavior done by Canonical adding snapd to the blacklist, so it won't be pulled or installed behind your back. Oh lord, I realized I am a neckbeard. How to deal with it?

[reneboerboom]

What Canonical really shouldn't have done is changing APT packages or whatever other packages, and use them to force installing snapd. This goes against what the Linux community stands for.

[PizzaLovingNerd]

Are you turning neckbeards vs suits into a series?

[PestisNonSapien_GMO_exHuman]

I fled from Ubuntu a month or so ago because I was sick of snap. Only recently did I read about Mints snap ban. A little late now though. I fell in love with arch.

[svendheim]

I wish Canonical could shift the focus of Snaps over to servers/IoT, and join in on Flatpak for GUI apps.
Snaps are awesome for servers, Nextcloud is basically a one-click install, and has been for a long time.
For GUI, Snaps just seems like a double effort to me. No need to re-invent the wheel.

[ronsingh]

I get the analog but calling a Frenchman a "neckbeard"....no sure Clem cares for that characterization, haha.
Mister STL, HUGE gratitude for this video!
It should help folks make up their minds as to what's important to them and showcase the great service that Ubuntu and Mint provides -- choice!
Hooray to Ubuntu for their tireless work on the base, unabashed bows to the Mint team for the spit/polish/completedness of their distro. Much appreciation to both.

[georgedwilkinson]

Just a regular user, here. I come down on the side of the neck beards, though. If I wanted corporate control, we already have two commercial overlords for that. I like that Linux is looked over by people who hate control. It's better for all of us.

[skybear]

Holy molly neckbear Tom??? More like a mountaineer :D

[turtlewax]

Best solution: End Users should choose their own flavor of Linux. If you like snaps, choose Ubuntu, or find a way to impliment the use of snaps in your distro of Linux. If you prefer no snaps, many other distros do not have snaps and people who like Ubuntu will post work-arounds or find your own work around.
There really isn't a debate, unless certain entities are trying to make snaps a Linux standard across all distros.

[TheCocoaDaddy]

I have parts of a beard but not a "full" beard, so I'm not sure I qualify as a "neckbeard". I do shave often, so I tend to be more "clean shaven". :) lol Philosophically, I tend to agree with the neckbeards. I fully understand the need to make money and I have no issue with making money off Linux. However, I view snaps from a different perspective. Based on the arguments I've read and listened to, snaps appear to be easier for the *developer* to maintain since they can publish updates whenever and not have to bother with packing things up in DEBs, etc, whatever. I see this a *lot* in the Wordpress world. Wordpress plugin developers are quietly pushing updates to plugins without doing formal releases. How do I find out? Security plugins, like Wordfence, will tell me about changes being made to plugin files that don't match the latest release version of said plugin.

I don't think code needs to be "closed" to make money. One of the things about open source is the ability for people to inspect the code for issues. I think the "Heartbleed" vulnerability in OpenSSL was found because someone was inspecting the OpenSSL source code and stumbled upon a bug.

One concern I have about snaps is "supply chain attacks". So, an application developers source tree gets compromised and some malicious code gets injected in the application. Developer doesn't realize it and the malicious code gets distributed "automagically". I believe Ubuntu experienced this same issue with it's software repository (or some aspect of it). Ubuntu being a larger body than a developer, they were able to respond quickly and deal with the issue. I'm not sure a smaller development team would be capable of a similar response.

On the other hand, I really don't care where the software comes from as long as it's a trusted source (so I DO care a little :)). I don't think snaps really serve the Linux community as much as proponents might want us to believe. I don't know, given the variety of Linux distributions out there, I think we'll still have the ability to chose something that works best for us and maybe all this controversy will mean Linux Mint will grow in use and popularity. :)

Thanks for posting this video!

[dan_kelly]

Ok, so what is you opinion of a NeckBeard in a Suit. That's a scary one.

[davonuk]

I know where I stand: time to stop shaving.

[siwiecministro]

You are right - freedom is incompatible with unfreedom and this conflict cannot be resolved... :D

[emjaycee]

Humour is a wonderful vehicle to explain the situation with snaps... loved it... well done, Tom :)

Oh, I'm not currently using any snaps in my system... but I'm also pretty sure I'm not a 'neckbeard' :)

I still think that 'some' neckbeards need to learn to loosen up :) I mostly think Mint have learned to loosen up though... prefer their approach to what Ubuntu is currently pushing... but each to their own :)

[themaximus]

As a guy who doesn't use ubuntu looking in on this debate I can't but feel like the whole thing is a little silly. One of my favorite parts about the open source community is that you have so many options to choose from. Don't let yourself waste all this energy getting mad. Just move on to another option. Or better yet make one yourself! Simultaneously, if your one of the "suits" getting reactionarily mad at the "neck-beards" anger, instead of getting mad just politely suggest to them other options they could use to run their computer.

I mean there's so many other options that work just as well as Ubuntu does (some of them even better than Ubuntu imo): Solus, Fedora, Manjaro, Linux Mint, the list goes on and on.

[HungryGuyStories]

I'm not sure which I am. I use Linux because I love the concept of software that I own and am not just licensing it from someone else with a draconian licensing agreement that gives some corporate entity control of my computer. And I love the idea that open source software allows the community at large to inspect the code for back doors and embedded malware even though I rarely tinker with it. But I'm also a capitalist who sees nothing wrong with someone making a profit from their work, and I buy games from Steam quite regularly. So what does that make me???

[Mr_Lnx]

Personally Im with the neckbeards but for a different reason, I started using linux because I got sick of Windows 10 failing again and again from simple blue screens to a complete system reinstall, the countless amount of pop ups and apps I didn't want and Microsoft making harder to have control over the OS (seriously just look at what happened to their "clean install" feature that they had)

So after all of this I want to depend on companies as little as possible and I can see how tempting it is for a company or hell even a person to do this kind of practices where they give less control to the user (even more when your tipical user doesnt know any better in the case of ubuntu)

[JesseNeckred]

I don't like using snaps but I like that they exist hahaha.

[theepicslayersss]

yeah i agree for the end users, all they care about is if it works firstly and then they ask them selves the question on if it is secure... in my case, seeing old versions of programs on repos knowing they are a few versions back and are missing useful features or that all tutorials are made for the newer versions can be a total turn off even if the program works. so seeing a flatpack version is not a turn off in that case. (having used windows all my life till i found Linux, i expect my programs to be backward and forward compatible from habit...)

[walter_lesaulnier]

Money corrupts. Money, as a goal, is lower and more benal than striving for the same goals for nobler reasons.