XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11, comp.os.linux.advocacy, comp.sys.mac.advocacy   
   From: brock.mcnuggets@gmail.com   
      
   On Nov 21, 2025 at 11:22:42 AM MST, "Paul" wrote   
   <10fqalj$3svvq$1@dont-email.me>:   
      
   > On Fri, 11/21/2025 10:39 AM, Brock McNuggets wrote:   
   >   
   >> I get what you're trying to say with the "chained curation," but that   
   doesn't   
   >> really address the point I made.   
   >>   
   >> Sure, there's an upstream structure. Debian feeds Ubuntu, Ubuntu feeds Mint,   
   >> etc. That's packaging lineage, not user-facing curation. The existence of a   
   >> family tree doesn't help an average user figure out which distro they should   
   >> pick, what tradeoffs they're signing up for, or whether the maintainers of a   
   >> given project are making choices that will affect them a year down the road.   
   >>   
   >> Most of the differences aren't obvious from the outside. You have things   
   like:   
   >>   
   >> - Ubuntu leaning hard on SNAPs   
   >> - Mint avoiding them   
   >> - upstreams with conflicting philosophies   
   >> - different release cadences, different patching approaches, different   
   >> tooling stacks   
   >>   
   >> None of that is clear until you're already using the system, and it's not   
   >> explained in any unified, beginner-friendly way. That's the "paradox of   
   >> choice" part: plenty of options, very little guidance unless you already   
   know   
   >> the ecosystem well.   
   >>   
   >> So yeah, the distro family tree is there, but it doesn't fix the actual   
   >> user-experience problem. A car lot still gives you a salesperson, brochures,   
   >> trim levels, test drives, and a guided funnel toward a decision. Linux   
   distros   
   >> mostly give you a giant chart and tell you good luck.   
   >>   
   >> That's the gap I was pointing to.   
   >>   
   >> To be clear, this does not mean I am against Linux. I have used it myself,   
   >> have set up labs in schools, have set it up for users, and helped them set   
   it   
   >> up. I mostly used Mint. No list of distros for them. No options. Just   
   >> installed Mint or gave them media with it for them to do so. Before that I   
   was   
   >> doing the same with Ubuntu. I "curated" the choices for them.   
   >   
   > I'm not sure that we can expect a single human to do those tradeoffs   
   > in an intelligible way.   
      
   Agreed. But the desktop Linux is a bit chaotic, by the very nature of open   
   source. And that is fine. It is also fine when Apple and MS and others use   
   open source.   
   >   
   > Imagine if this diagram had a third dimension, with some properties listed.   
   > That would be totally unmanageable.   
   >   
   >   
   > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Linux_Dist   
   ibution_Timeline.svg   
      
   Yeah, use that to make an informed choice. LOL!   
   >   
   > I doubt even an LLM AI analysis would yield a result, as the LLM AI would   
   > succumb to the marketing text and not concentrate on the numbers or whatever.   
   > For example, when Zak Wallen writes an article, the article is   
   > the fluffy kind and not substantive. That would be an advocacy or marketing   
   > type article (where we compare the pastel shades of the background picture,   
   > as an important aspect of distro choice).   
      
   I used to play with a lot of distros. Sure... some were better for general use   
   and others for troubleshooting or whatever (in my case Mint and Puppy,   
   respectively). But for the most part it was minor window dressing changes to   
   the desktop and then the apps were pretty much the same. With all the "choice"   
   there is not that much difference.   
      
   It is why I have said in some ways macOS offers more choice. It might not have   
   some things that some Linux distros (or DEs, really) had, such as virtual   
   desktops and window snapping (both excellent features and now thankfully both   
   on macOS), but it has for a long time had a lot of other things no other   
   desktop system offered.   
      
   But, of course, Linux has positives. Not saying one is right for everyone.   
   Glad there is choice.   
   >   
   >    Paul   
      
      
   --   
   It's impossible for someone who is at war with themselves to be at peace with   
   you.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)