Are Distro Reviews Pointless? Are They HARMFUL? (Rant Incoming!)

There has been a lot of recent discussions in the Linux sphere about Linux "distro reviews" and whether they are good content. Some have asserted that distro reviews are pointless. Some have even stated that such videos are harmful. As someone who has made literally hundreds of these kinds of videos, I'll share with you my thoughts and some of my experiences.

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[TheLinuxCast]

One of us was triggered. Not sure which one. 🤣

[whoisYoges]

Most distro reviews are just "Desktop Environment" reviews

[noteturnomen]

Every linux distro "review": "Same installer as ever. Slightly different apps pre-installed. Nice wallpaper." ;)

[phrtao]

I watch distro reviews and nearly every one misses the point. As you say they are nearly always superficial (Nice wallpapers, default layout, which version of office). What I would like to see is a review that picks out what is unique about that distro. I only really want to hear about a distro if if does something different or showcases new software or maybe even if it has a radically different desktop layout.

[pankierin]

As an absolute linux noob, I do find distro reviews highly entertaining. I switched to linux mint 21 2 months ago, and am loving it. I loves to see the basic stuff about linux distros though, because as a noob, I lack the knowledge how to setup a custom built de or any kind of super specilization (even though its kinda easy). Still, absolutely love linux mint 21. Rock solid for my college work, and for my natively supported games.

[InMooseWeTrust]

Every single video review starts with installing the os, which often takes up half of the video. What's the point? This isn't Linux for noobs. We know how to install Linux.

[codeartha]

As an advanced linux user I still like to watch them from time to time. It allows me to keep up with the changes in some DE i'm not using without having to install them myself all the time which saves time. Sometimes it makes me discover new distributions I never knew existed or knew about but never tried so I don't know how they look and feel.

For instance in all my years of linux I never tried fedora because it seemed aged. Well two years ago when you took a look at fedora 34 or 35 it made me discover a pretty nice distribution that I ended up installing and playing with for a couple months. In the end I went back to my trusty manjaro with awesomeWM. But I now know fedora is solid and probably what I'd use for a work computer if I wanted to make sure I have a stable system. Because it's much more stable than manjaro in the long term and gnome is more user friendly than awesomeWM so if I have to pass it to a non-linux collegue for the time of a presentation or something, he'll be able to use it....

I've heard of Zorin and PopOS for a few years now, but never even looked at what they looked like. Seeing your review of Zorin 4 months ago showed me a beautiful distribution that is definitely not for me, but one I now know I'll be able to suggest to friends that are looking to move from windows to linux as an easy distribution for first time users. My wife hate's using my computer because she's lost on it, and when I was on XFCE she felt it was old and dated interface. So she keeps on with windows though she's frustrated by her windows use as well. I just had to send her your video about Zorin OS, to show her a distribution she might like. And after watching your video, she told me she was willing to try it someday when we have enough freetime to do a fresh install of her computer.

TLDR: distribution reviews and or WM reviews are useful IMO even for advanced users because it's a good material we can share with non-linux users that are looking at dipping their toes in linux but don't know where to start. So keep 'em coming!

One suggestion for improvement: I sometimes find that they way you go through the installation process is a bit too lenghty. Particularly you are a bit too verbose on some pretty intuitive "options" in the installer like username and password. Everybody seeing the video knows that you're typing a username in the username field and a password in the password field. Same when you explain why you select the entire drive because it's fine for you because you're in a virtual machine... Or the fact that the english US language is fine for you because yada yada... Again most people with a brain will understand that you select the language you speak and not another one and know they'll be able to chose theirs.
I hope you take it as a positive critique, I like your videos and think you've done wonders to develop the community

[hfislwpa]

As a new Linux user thanks to you I was able to narrow down what distro was the right fit for me. I found a home in fedora thanks to your reviews, so thank you! I'm sure I'm not alone here. As a whole the community benefits from it

[denizkendirci]

i think distro reviews are kind of helpful for beginners who are trying to choose a distro based on what it feels out of the box or advanced users who prefers to stay in desktop environments, or in official "flagship" flavors of distros which are already nicely configured to their heavy production, work stuff etc needs and saves them time and hussle. however, if you are an intermediate or advanced user who prefers window managers which they customized only for themselves, minimal, lightweight, fast, not bloated to the point where nothing necessary to you is not on the system, distro reviews are no longer useful for you because you don't use the stuff comes with that distro's main flavor, you only use the base system and build up. so i'm in that second group that those reviews are rarely useful for me, but i don't hate them, in fact i still watch those to learn about the new distros out there, at least, to be aware of their existence.

also, like someone else said in the comments, the most distro reviews are actually "desktop environment" reviews, content creators rarely review under the hood, like if package manager is slow or fast, is it nicely organized and has a nice dependency track and control system, how is the package manager syntax, how the distro's system folders, default folders for globally installed applications, config folders differs etc from other distros, is the package names in official repos are more or less same with other distros' or they are different than what you might be used to. which default shell it ships with etc etc etc. they don't actually tell you about how the distro differs, they only review the desktop environment which is generally either kde or gnome. and of course, gnome is the same gnome on every other distro, you don't need to watch the review of the same thing million times. in short, the problem is not the distro reviews, the problem is how they generally do the distro reviews. they are creating the same content over and over again, and essentially bloat people's youtube page with the copies of the same video.

and that's what people don't like. they don't hate distro reviews, they hate how they are made.

for example, i might be impressed and interested if a brave linux content creator reviews bedrock linux and tell us how it differs, how it works under the hood. but no, no content creator will ever put their hands on something like that, because for a review like that you really have to tell how actually that distro works in detail. and no content creator wants to spend their time on a video like that, especially when it's niche, and number of people interested are very limited.

[KeepItTechie]

What's up DT!! Great video as always! I talked about this topic as well on my channel. I didn't know it comes up this often. 😅 You're the reason why I started doing Linux videos to share what I've learned. Thanks!

[tropicten]

As an experienced Linux user, I’m looking for what differentiates a distro. Why does it exist and why should I use it? That lends itself more to deeper dives and more fundamentally unique distros such as Fedora Silverblue and NixOS.

I’m not opposed to more superficial content like a quick look at the latest Kubuntu update. But only if enough has changed to justify the effort.

[MultiLusz]

Its basically pointless especially if the distro is being installed with vm

[markborsik]

DT! Been following your channel with pleasure and all I can say is Keep Up The Good Work! My computer world started out with crap like JCL and Fortrans on *IBM 360/370 machines. Then SCO Unix. Then DOS and Windows. Even found time for a Macbook... Then Linux. Then back to Windows. And now with my disgust with WindowsWorld I am back to Linux and very very happy about it! You have helped more than you could know with your videos. Distro reviews serve a purpose in that they helped me to decide on what distros and features I wanted. Your in-depth videos on tiling windows and the like have helped me to refine my Linux experience. Have to admit that you are not the only channel I've watched, but all of you folks have helped me to make informed decisions about how to frame my Linux experience and for that I thank you!

[dennisdoherty]

I think what you do is a great service, it helps introduce the platform in an approachable way to people who may not have considered it an option. I've been professionally working with it, mainly RPM based distros, for many years starting on dedicated physical hosts 1U/2U+ HPs, IBMs, Dell x86 hardware then to VMs in the early 2000s and lately in AWS and Azure. From a person side, I watch your videos as it helps me when it comes time to recommend a distro to family member or friend. Plus, I like distro hoping on some extra hosts that I've built from left over hardware upgrades laying around in my basement... keep up the GREAT work that you've always been doing.

[Winnetou]

Good idea of a video! I have several points to make:

- the term "review" is a bit subjective. For me it always hinted some sort of completeness. That is, to paint an accurate description of the entity reviewed, which implies going more in depth, in order to know what and how works, to not be fooled by something pretty that will break on the next update. After reading/watching a review, I expect that anything that's not there to be details of little importance. So in that regard, I, too, agree that what DT does is more "first look" of a Linux/BSD/GNU distro

- I think there is value in having a more in-depth/longer-tried look on a distro, including for newer-to-Linux people. When looking at a "first look", you see mainly how it looks and the general idea of what a distro wants to be. However, it doesn't tell you much about how it actually functions, how it is to daily drive it. For people to switch to a(nother) distribution, they need to also know how hassle-free or hassle-light the new distro is to drive, not just to install and look at. Things like how often should you update stuff, and how does that work. Customizing something non trivial, how is that done. When an update breaks, how easy is to fix it or revert it. When something doesn't work, how easy is to make it work. Upgrading from one version to another, is that ok (where applicable, like Fedora 36 to 37 or Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04) ? It's things like that that also help when choosing a distro, that give you some knowledge and peace of mind that you'll get along ok with that distro, since you have somewhat of a deeper understanding of how it works and how to tackle it in times of need. Of course, some of this is maybe not distro specific but specific to a package manager or specific to Linux in general.

If I can make a really bad analogy, it's like having a first date and the girl tells you that she cooks. Three months into the relationship you realize that she only cooks pastas and doesn't even want to try to make a soup. Or 1 month after you installed a distro you realize that watching videos on YouTube makes your laptop an airplane simulator because the distro you chose doesn't have the browser with hardware acceleration or doesn't have the proprietary NVidia drivers. Things like there are very valuable to be known beforehand (man, do I like soup!)

- lastly, regarding reviews or first looks, if they can be harmful. Well, they can, even if the reception from both viewers and the maintainer(s)/owner(s) is positive.

It's all about setting expectations. The idea is that a distro might get a first look, where it's shown that is nice and all. And an user (probably a novice) might try to install that, but have all sorts of problems. Either at installation or later, when something doesn't work. And that person might quit Linux altogether after a bad enough experience.

I think the best example of how to do it right is Gentoo. Everybody reviewing Gentoo mentions that it's source based and that is time consuming, unless you have a really fast computer. And that, even so, it's for advanced users, all the responsability is shifted to you, you basically only have several tools for automating stuff. And this is good, it gives the warnings that it needs to do so somebody seeing it, might like it, but realize that it won't have the time to actually maintain that.

[jmacx]

I appreciate your coverage of new Distros and their little known features. I featured your DNF segment in my week in review of Fedora 37. I found the entire video and those mentioned very helpful during my transition to my first great experience with Fedora since v21, which was when DNF was introduced! Thanks for everything DT. Love and Respect

[sonofabippi]

I always appreciate not having to go through an install to find out if there was even a chance I would like it. You are appreciated.

[WhatIsItReallyAbout]

To me, when you get to a certain level, the distro itself doesn't matter a whole lot. You can pretty much set it up how you want. I still like to watch your distro videos because its interesting to see how different DE's are being set up. Sometimes you get surprises, like the out-of-the-box tiling on Gnome when Pop!OS first came out. So keep the videos coming.

[GetFrantic]

Linux has been my primary OS for years (Arco), so I'm by no means a novice users. But I still occasionally come through and watch your distro reviews and I don't hate them. I watch them every so often just to see what if anything is new/different. lol Better you than me installing them especially when it comes to Debian/Ubuntu based distros that I've not ran in years. I like seeing the changes in aesthetics and such but don't want to actually install them myself.

[patpopov]

Can you get Pop!_OS to install in gnome-boxes?