From: crude@sausa.ge   
      
   On 28 Jan 2026 20:00:10 GMT, rbowman wrote:   
      
   > On 28 Jan 2026 13:52:47 GMT, CrudeSausage wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 28 Jan 2026 02:54:49 GMT, rbowman wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On 27 Jan 2026 22:29:00 GMT, CrudeSausage wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> The numbers don't lie. Ubuntu was the catalyst for a great number of   
   >>>> people giving Linux a chance and the free CDs weren't the only   
   >>>> reason.   
   >>>> Unlike most Linux distributions, both the installer and the installed   
   >>>> product worked as they should and it made Linux easy for most people.   
   >>>> That's not to say Debian and others weren't easy enough _before_   
   >>>> Ubuntu's release, but Ubuntu finally attracted the mainstream users   
   >>>> who weren't as dedicated as we all were to getting the operating   
   >>>> system working for us.   
   >>>   
   >>> Leading to the Year of the Linux Desktop, right? You may have a better   
   >>> chance of witnessing the second coming.   
   >>   
   >> It wasn't the second coming, but suddenly Linux was an operating system   
   >> which could appeal to regular people as much as the geeks.   
   >   
   > Distrowatch's methodology is shaky but assuming page hits have some   
   > correlation to usage, as expected Ubunutu hits the list in 2005. By   
   > 2011, a derivative, Mint, was topping the charts. However the page hits   
   > on all distros had increased.   
      
   Hence, what I was saying about Ubuntu being the catalyst. I don't know why   
   Mint needed to be created in 2011, but I imagine it was because the   
   community was offended by Mir or Unity. In Mir's case, Canonical was   
   actually trying to fix a problem, so I'm a little surprised that the   
   community were against it. Similarly, there was nothing wrong with Unity.   
   If people didn't want to use it, they could go ahead and install a   
   different desktop environment.   
      
   > Recently MX Linux was the leader but was replaced by CachyOS in 2025.   
   > That's why I take the rankings with a big grain of salt. Are people   
   > really using CachyOS or are the page hits "what the hell is CachyOS?'   
   >   
   > Maybe Ubunutu attracted more attention. 2005 was still Windows XP which   
   > wasn't alienating people. Was it just the free CDs?   
      
   I've seen lots of distributions come and go. At this point, I'm content to   
   choose either a distribution that is immensely popular like Mint, or one   
   backed by a company like Pop_OS!. Both are good, but I see more promise   
   with Pop_OS! because System76 is going in its own direction and doing   
   what's best for productive users, not trying to please everyone at once.   
   The keyboard shortcuts enabled by default in Pop_OS! are kind of neat (ex:   
   Super+T to open a terminal, Super+b to open the default browser, Super+m   
   to maximize the current window, etc.), but it's still not great with quick   
   changes to external monitors.   
      
   --   
   CrudeSausage   
   John 14:6   
   Isaiah 48:16   
   Pop_OS!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)