Why is Ubuntu Getting so much HATE ?

Ubuntu is the biggest distro out there. It had a transformative impact on the Linux desktop, helping to move it from "hobbyist project" to something that can, and is used by millions. From its inception in 2004 until today, Ubuntu has been working on the Linux desktop, with more or less success depending on the initiatives they took. And still, this distro, and its associated company, Canonical, are being criticized, dismissed and are generally getting a lot of hate lately. Let's see why

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Ubuntu introduced an integration with Amazon when they started shipping Unity as a default desktop environment, and later, they added a reporting tool that collects sytem information and sends it back to Ubuntu to check on what their users are actually using hardware wise.

Then there's the data collection. Ubuntu asks their users if they want to DISABLE the data collection after install, meaning that it's turned on by default. This created outrage in the Linux community, arguing that Ubuntu had become spyware. Now, this is complete nonsense.

First, Ubuntu gives users an example of the data they collect: it's just hardware configs, nothing personal is sent or kept. It's less info than what the Steam user survey collects, and the goal here is to help Ubuntu tailor the experience for their users, looking at what hardware they use.

The second thing that often gets brought up is that Ubuntu tries to reinvent the wheel. Most projects that are cited here are Mir and Unity. Mir was a new display server that Ubuntu pushed when they were working on their new Unity desktop, to try and have a coherent solution for mobile devices and desktops at the same time, to work towards device convergence.

For both these projects, Ubuntu took some flak, the community accusing them of reinventing the wheel, splitting the community's efforts for development, and just wanting to do their own things.

While these are valid criticisms, you have to remember that the competing projects, at that time, were far from ready. Ubuntu should have gone with Wayland instead of inventing Mir is a phrase we often read nowadays, and still, Wayland at the time just wasn't suited for what Ubuntu wanted to do. Wayland is just a protocol, and its implementation at the time, Weston was severely lacking. Mir was supposed to allow a less modular design, with more stuff relegated to the display server instead of the client, to guarantee more performance on ARM environments, which was where Mir would run as well: on smartphones and IoT devices. Wayland didn't meet these criteria.

Unity, on the other hand, was created because GNOME 3, at the time, was such a huge departure from what users were used to. GNOME 3 did away with most, if not all the conventions for what a desktop was in the minds of users. No menu bars, no task bar, no application list, no regular menu. Instead, they pushed the activities concept, did away with the minimize button, they generally invented a whole new vision for the desktop.

Ubuntu didn't want to break all of their user's workflow, and so they worked on something that users would be more familiar with, and added their own spin on things, with the dash, allowing users to search through the entire system, a dock, and a global menu bar.

Snaps are another controversial point, that I would tend to put in the "they invented another way to do things instead of contributing to an already existing model" locker.

Snaps are a way of packaging and distributing software. They are generally criticized for being slow to load, creating new mount points in the disk utility, yes, really, and for being proprietary.

While snaps are indeed pretty slow to load, don't always respect the user's theme, and do use mount points to mount the snaps and allow the apps to run, the proprietary part is complete bogus.

Snaps themselves are completely open source, as is the way of creating them, running them. What is proprietary, however, is the snap store, the place where applications are distributed.

There is a good reason for this, though: Ubuntu doesn't want multiple store and repos popping up, to keep the snap store consistent for companies that would like to distribute their apps there. Snaps, just like flatpaks, try to solve the app distribution problem on Linux: with these formats, you can package your app once, and it will run anywhere. Companies that make software might want to distribute their apps on Linux, but if their app is displayed next to a lot of copycat applications that are left unchecked, or if their application get repackaged by other users, then they're just not going to go for it.

[JoelJosephReji]

I think the reason why they keep the Snap store proprietary is due to a different reason. Alan Pope once did say that they had a similar situation before with launchpad website and the community wanted it to be open sourced. What happened in the end was that it was made open source after Canonical took the effort but they received no contribution from the community to the website. So, he said that they are expecting for such a thing to happen if they open source the snap store and also there is lot of effort taken to open source a project and they have the efforts directed elsewhere at the moment.

[Dr.Mohandes]

linux user: ubuntu spies on me
also linux user: logs into google account

[ishanchaki]

Ubuntu is probably the most misunderstood distribution ever. I personally prefer manjaro or mint over Ubuntu. But the contribution of Ubuntu to make Linux popular is indisputable. Period.

[kuhluhOG]

Although a bit offending, I think Stroustrup saying about programming languages also applies to Linux distros:
There are only 2 types of language; those people bitch about and those nobody uses.

[leomuricy]

Even though I don't use it anymore, if it wasn't for Ubuntu I probably would not have become a Linux fan. I started using it to develop during college and the fact that is was very user friendly (in a time when the old KDE wasn't) and mainly that it had this huge community with tutorials to solve any kind of problem really help me learn about Linux.
That was the reason I could start trying other distros and ended up keeping Mint as my main one.

[tom-james-watson]

I've been using linux for about 12 years and work as a software developer. Basically, I like to think I'm not a noob.

I use Ubuntu. I just want a well-supported, stable distro that works and lets me get my job done. Ubuntu does all that.

Oh, and I like snaps, too.

[broganking]

"I hate Ubuntu" as I type on my Ubuntu based distro.

[thedoofguy]

I never understood this silly elitism of wanting to use things hardly anyone else uses just to be cool and to stand out. That's just dumb and shortsighted. The more people are using the same things I'm using, the higher the chance that any of us who run into problems find help and improve those things we're all using. That is one of the most beautiful things about Linux. Of course that doesn't mean that we should all use the same things. Variety is the spice of life (and Linux), after all. But if you want to stand out, do so by being helpful and not elitist.

[rafaelpalmalima]

I use Ubuntu LTS for productivity... it is stable and reliable. I also use some Ubuntu derivatives, as Neon and Mint. I don't understand all this hate.

[pipeliner]

Ubuntu is a great thing! They are bringing a lot of UX quality to Linux for "normal people"

[quinncasey]

I've paid more to Manjaro in donations than I have to Microsoft in Win10 licences... I think Linux users look to the ecosystem as an "unlimited free trial" rather than getting as much for free as possible. I just hope elementaryos' store model catches on to more distros.

[shadytv]

I think it's really shitty that people give canonical so much flack for creating competitive standards like unity, mir and upstart. Competition was a really important thing especially in Free Software. It allows practical implementations of multiple philosophies.
On top of that - Wayland and Systemd and most of GNOME are supported and built by Redhat but no-one gives them any shit for it.
I like to think of KDE and GNOME as a good example of what happens when competitive software is built. BOTH of them are very high quality desktop environments with radically different approaches to desktop workflow. yet they contribute so much code to each other which allows for user choice and quality and collaboration in problem solving. I don't think you should look at it so much as KDE and GNOME are competing but rather the desktop workflow design is competing. Which I feel Linux has been lacking in most other areas .

[jonblu]

Conclusion: Use whatever distro you like. I'm switching from Ubuntu to Mint for a better performance.

[Enum_Dev]

Linux users: So you are giving the OPTION to send very little data to you and it's DISABLED by default?

Also Linux Users:
sudo cancel distro

[breizhman]

"Why is Ubuntu Getting so much HATE ?" - like everything popular and big. lot of people love it so obviously lot of people hate it. It applies also to Windows and Apple.

[fraufuchs]

Why to hate any distro? Just use whatever you want and forget what other people use 🤷‍♀️ so simple.

Edit: before you start writing why you don't like using the distro, *stop.* That's not hating it. I'm not talking about disliking the user experience, avoiding the distro or recommending another one. I'm not talking about disliking the company behavior or people who work there. Read exactly what I wrote, don't add information from your imagination.

"oh it takes the user base from other distros", just like Netflix from blockbuster, digital camera manufacturers from film manufacturers and so on. That's life. If someone offers something people would like to have and you can't offer the same or if you can't make people see what you offer, you will be in disadvantage. Don't expect others not to be clever and take advantage of the opportunities just because you want to have a easier time. You may not like this behavior, but that's not hating the distro and it happens everywhere and most of the time you as a consumer don't feel sorry for the companies which stay behind. Do you photograph exclusively with film? Do you work with a typing machine? Do you feel sorry for blockbuster or Kodak?

[LGTeGeTeGe]

Im a biologist, i always hated computers and was a pretty douchy macintosh user, now im trying to switch things off and two software developer friends recomended me ubuntu to start my linux journey, and im enjoying a lot this learning process, ubuntu is really noob friendly and i really appreciate that :)

[SabiazothPsyche]

Ubuntu is solid. It is stable, and it's absolutely flawless with sound, video and graphics. It is just ultimately one of the best Linux Distro out there.

[billgross]

Love Linux Mint ... Brought to us via Ubuntu. Yes, Ubuntu is a good thing.

[buuk]

sometimes i get the feeling some people don't want mass adoption of linux, they like being on an "elitist" os. as far as i know nobody forces you to use ubuntu. so please stop hating on ubuntu and go on with your life. stay with the distro you like and let it be ;)