I've long lamented the fact that Linux lacks any real marketing strategy.





Of course, when a product is free of cost, there is no ROI so what's the point?





Canonical beat the odds with Ubuntu. The fan-base became so large, so fast that Universal Awareness of Ubuntu can be credited to a simple grass-roots effort that expanded across the globe.





It wasn't television or radio advertising.





It wasn't billboards.





It was good old fashioned proselytizing .





Gimmee that old-time religion any day.



And if you take some time to really look back at the process, many of us would admit it was a thing of beauty...almost a force of nature.





Ubuntu in essence, became Linux....or the other way around, depending upon your point of view. Ubuntu became the number one Linux distro almost completely on the backs of their users. Ubuntu was perceived as an entity guided and molded by the community...a true socialized effort in which every user had a stake.





Somewhere around release 9.04, that myth began to unravel.





The first threads came apart when decisions were made to remove certain keyboard shortcuts, "for the good of the new user". Ctrl/alt/delete and ctrl/alt/backspace were removed.





For the good of the new user.





If I remember correctly, this did cause a bit of a stir...I for one certainly didn't like it.





But what about the new user...? He could seriously mess stuff up if he were to mistakenly hit one of these key combinations. God forbid...





So they were axed.





And of course, either Canonical or someone in the Ubuntu Community wrote a script that would replace this lost functionality, but you really had to search hard to find it. Not a huge deal but the disturbance in the Ubuntu Force could be clearly felt.





They are simply users along for the ride.





Now Synaptic is being removed in place of the Ubuntu Software Center. Some would argue that having the software center and Synaptic is redundant. Maybe it is, but even those who work to produce the Software Center admit it has a long way to go. The latest release is a great improvement but still...



It seriously lacks the power of Synaptic.



And please don't bring that "Synaptic is too difficult to use" stuff. I teach 12 year old kids the basic and advanced functions of Synaptic in 20 minutes. I'm guessing if there are adults that are flummoxed by it, they can always ask one of our 12 year old children.



But still, the Software Center is looking good and as long as it's for the sake of the new users...well, I guess that justifies the decision.



To be honest, it's probably a good idea.





The pews are becoming quiet. The shouts of "Hallelujah" and "Amen" are no longer raising the roof. What were almost under-the-breath mutterings about unnecessary changes seems to be evolving into sounds of slamming doors.





People tend to slam doors in anger when they leave.





So we're left to wonder at Canonical's strategy here. Are they truly trying to become the "New Linux User" distro? Are they dumbing things down to the point where a new Linux user sees enough parallels with Windows or Mac that she feels comfortable?



Are they aiming for a new crop of New Users? Ones to replace the old new users?









A quick look into the various forums and discussions will bear out that Unity isn't well-liked at all..except by maybe a few. Very few. For many, Unity is the proverbial last straw. For others, the removal of Synaptic from the base install will be the last, last straw.







Now, we can argue the validity of such placements and we can even argue the statistics used to measure such placements. but what we cannot argue is the fact that just about the time Unity came into the spotlight, the first to second place distrowatch listings juxtaposed. It would seem more than a handful of people dislike Unity.



You think that's coincidence? Come on...you're smarter than that.



It leaves many to wonder how many of those "losses" in the Ubuntu column were gains for Linux Mint.



It defies logic that Canonical cannot understand one simple and real-life fact: The users that leave you will not only take others with them, they will bad-mouth you endlessly.



That means no more apostles spanning the globe on your behalf.



Slam. If so, at what cost?A quick look into the various forums and discussions will bear out that Unity isn't well-liked at all..except by maybe a few. Very few. For many, Unity is the proverbial last straw. For others, the removal of Synaptic from the base install will be the last, last straw. An interesting thing to note is that within the last 30 days, Linux Mint has taken the first place spot on Distrowatch.com. Mint of course, remained using Gnome 2.32 when they matched Ubuntu's 11.04 release featuring Unity.Now, we can argue the validity of such placements and we can even argue the statistics used to measure such placements. but what we cannot argue is the fact that just about the time Unity came into the spotlight, the first to second place distrowatch listings juxtaposed. It would seem more than a handful of people dislike Unity.You think that's coincidence? Come on...you're smarter than that.It leaves many to wonder how many of those "losses" in the Ubuntu column were gains for Linux Mint.It defies logic that Canonical cannot understand one simple and real-life fact: The users that leave you will not only take others with them, they will bad-mouth you endlessly.That means no more apostles spanning the globe on your behalf.





There have been some turbulent changes in the Linuxsphere within the past few years...KDE 4 and then the almost simultaneous Gnome 3 and Unity environments taking their places within.





I'm not sure in the grand scheme of things, that Synaptic will be missed by that many. Personally, I use Apt Cacher to do many of our HeliOS installs and Synaptic is a welded-in part of that process.



As well, the Unified Customization Kit (UCK) uses synaptic to build the new ISO's when one is doing their respin. Taking out Synaptic due to "lack of space" is a non-starting argument since they plan to go to all DVD ISO releases anyway. Oh and sure I can always add it back in if I need it.





But I don't have time to do that.



Still, I might be able to understand taking it out to lessen confusion of the New User....thus removing one instance of redundancy. I can make sense of that easily.





So HeliOS will be sticking with the 10.04 version of Ubuntu until it ends it's life and then we'll see what our options are. By then, maybe Gnome 3 will actually be something people will want to use. Maybe Unity will evolve into a usable interface for anything larger than a 10 inch screen. Maybe a reliable remaster tool will be created for Mint much like UCK was created for Ubuntu. One that doesn't throw a bazillion errors in the first three minutes.





And maybe I'll be the King of Tonga by that time





All-Righty Then...













So it has gone with Ubuntu from then until now...little changes here, stuff taken away there...navigation buttons pushed to the left side... Now flash forward to the new Unity interface which serves as the latest reminder that the Ubuntu Community isn't really a relevant force in how Ubuntu is shaped.