While reading the blogosphere, I came across an article that talks about Ubuntu as a gateway for Linux. This same article also explains the reasons why many people don’t stay on the kernel system and gives their reasons. Among them are problems with drivers and professional software. It connected me to my past and present, and I think it’s true that part of the problem with Linux’s market share may be Ubuntu itself.
A couple of decades ago, only a few of us knew or heard of Linux. There were already quite a few options to choose from, but among the most popular was Mandrake (now OpenMandriva, after being in Mandriva), and Ubuntu was starting to sound strong. I, who only wanted something at the user level (browsing, chatting, movies…) got tired of how slow XP was and switched to Ubuntu. Installing the programs was a bit difficultbut easy to get used to: using a package manager or terminal. I’ve found everything I need, or failing that, an alternative.
Ubuntu, its changes and limitations
Nowadays, Linux is more popular and more people decide to give it a try. The most popular is without a doubt the Ubuntu we’re dealing with here, and of course it’s usually the option selected to begin with. Installing the operating system is a no-brainer, and I’d say it can be done in less than half an hour on an average computer. The problems start later.
The Ubuntu Software Store is a The Snap Store with native packages (DEB) support. There we can find a lot, but a lot is missing. If someone is looking for Chrome, a browser with a high market share, they won’t find it there. The closest thing it offers is Chromium, which isn’t the same. Brave, what I would recommend, is there, but most people want Google Chrome, and it’s not that easy to get it – that’s where it starts to hurt.
This would be partially solved if Canonical didn’t own snappacks and waged a certain war on flatpacks. This is not a limitation of use, but it creates obstacles. Its software store doesn’t allow you to add snap packages in any way, and that requires you to manually install the flatpak package, the flathub repository (there’s Chrome), and GNOME Software, a GNOME store compatible with these flatpak packages.
Flathub: “The Linux Software Store”… and GNOME
Flathub has taken the lead on this new generation packages. Canonical says Snaps are better, but they have at least two problems: performance (they’re slower) and dependence on AppArmour. Many developers opt for Flatpak packages, and this is evident by the amount of software that one store has more than another.
Unlike snapshots, which depend on snapd and AppArmour, Flatpak packages are installed on the system with no dependencies other than environment dependencies. If you decide to remove the software, the operating system will be cleaner than with snapds, which will always have snapd and AppAmour running in the background.
But this is not something that interests those new to Linux. They just come and don’t find that much software because Ubuntu comes without support for Flatpak packages.
Linux is already different; no more obstacles needed
Linux is not Windows. It’s different, and you can’t put more obstacles in the way that users won’t find it attractive. The problem of drivers and so on, my experience suggests that it is not that serious. Linux has always worked perfectly for me after installing from scratch and I was able to install drivers easily as well. GNOME can be a problem, especially when used on a low-resource computer. If someone tries to switch to Linux, which they’re told is lightweight, chooses Ubuntu and realizes that’s not true, you can’t blame anyone if they want to go back.
So yes, as a user who left Ubuntu, I agree that Ubuntu helps people try Linux, but the lack of default software and performance might be enough to keep them from coming back.
