Comment 74 Re: Depends on niche utility and marketing too

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Linux Insider investigates why some Linux distros just disappear

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Depends on niche utility and marketing too (Score: 3, Informative)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-02-26 11:44 (#6P)

openSUSE (and formerly SuSE) is my go-to distro usually, though I use Bodhi and FreeBSD a lot, too. I think SUSE has had trouble differentiating itself from other big distros like RedHat but still does a good job and not because of its distro manager but because it's been able to establish itself as an enterprise grade distro with good support and good reliability.

But have a look at Distrowatch and there are hundreds of niche distros that seem to offer little added value. "... is a distro based on Ubuntu with an XFCE desktop styled to look like a Mac." Really? We need a whole new distro with all that entails (quality control, package management, etc.) just for Ubuntu+DE+Theme? Those are the ones that seem to melt into the sunset.

Others are niche but provide either a new approach, a new technology, or fit a unique niche very well. PuppyLinux is a good example - awesome on low spec hardware. Scientific Linux brings in a lot of non-mainstream tools useful to a certain community. GRML tried to appeal to a small niche of ZSH lovers who prefer the console to XWindows, and when that sort of fizzled, tried to appeal in a different way (that doesn't seem to be taking either). There was another distro - now long gone - that decided to offer a very limited set of packages useful to businesses (office suite, RealPlayer, a couple of other things). Who wants to standardize on a distro that intentionally reduces your possibilities to do other useful things? I could use RedHat and get all that plus more.

Ultimately it takes a bit of branding and marketing, not in the "advertise the f*ck out of it" way but in the "show how this distro is different, serves a real need and/or fixes a problem you are currently experiencing" way. Not all distros do that.

Re: Depends on niche utility and marketing too (Score: 4, Informative)

by koen@pipedot.org on 2014-02-26 15:03 (#6W)

"... is a distro based on Ubuntu with an XFCE desktop styled to look like a Mac." Really? We need a whole new distro with all that entails (quality control, package management, etc.) just for Ubuntu+DE+Theme? Those are the ones that seem to melt into the sunset.

That would be Xubuntu, which is actually a very good distro. I was a SuSE user for many years (1998-2008), but I'm very happy with Xubuntu now and I don't think it will disappear soon. XFCE is very customizable, I changed the layout/theme for my needs, not looking like a Mac in any way. It has the advantages of Ubuntu without the disadvantages (being: Unity, the Amazon Spyware, Ubuntu One - but that can be installed if needed).

I have installed Xubuntu on several of my friend's and family's computer, non-technical people who are doing really well with it.

Re: Depends on niche utility and marketing too (Score: 2, Informative)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-02-26 15:31 (#70)

Hi Koen - I made that example up, so it wasn't Xubuntu I was thinking of (which I would mentally group together with the other Ubuntu variants anyway). But I do remember several niche distros that really boiled down little more than visual styling.

Actually, Xubuntu seems to be more popular than ever now that many Ubuntuers have rejected the obligatory Gnome3 upgrade. Nice time to be XFCE!

Re: Depends on niche utility and marketing too (Score: 2, Funny)

by koen@pipedot.org on 2014-02-26 18:21 (#74)

I see your point.

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2014-03-02 09:06 Funny +1 maxim@pipedot.org

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