As anyone who’s read Way of the Geek for any appreciable length of time knows, we’re all big fans of Free Software, in both the “beer” and “speech” senses of the term. We use such software almost exclusively in our management of this site; many of us even run a version of GNU/Linux (hereinafter just “Linux” for convenience) as a primary OS, or at least a secondary one on a dual boot. And we’ve never made any secret of the fact that, of all the various and sundry “flavors” of Linux that are floating around the bitstream, our favorite has always been Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth’s baby, which has grown in just the past several years from a more user-friendly derivative of Debian into quite possibly the world’s favorite alternative OS for the dominant Intel/AMD platform, has always been our poster child for demonstrating that, just because it’s Linux, that doesn’t mean it has to be strictly for the gearheads and command-line commandos… it’s a powerful, versatile, stable, and secure platform for developers and end users alike, yet it’s also friendly enough for Grandma Gertrude to use for e-mail and sharing photos of the grandkids.

Or at least, that’s been the case up until now.

Recent experience with the latest revision of Ubuntu, version 9.10 “Karmic Koala,” suggests to me that the folks at Ubuntu are moving in a direction that doesn’t jibe with the needs of power users or those who need hand-holding. It’s a disturbing development from the distribution that’s always been based on the philosophy of providing users of all experience levels with a solid platform.

DISCLAIMER: The following observations were made using a beta version of Ubuntu 9.10. As always with beta software, it may or may not reflect the final release version, currently scheduled for release on 28 October 2009. It is always possible that some of these issues will be addressed and updated by the time of the official release. Also keep in mind, this commentary applies only to the original, GNOME-based Ubuntu distribution, not any of its derivatives (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, etc.). If you use one of those, your mileage may vary.

Installing 9.10 is as easy and painless as it ever was; the installer simply asks you a few questions about language, time zone, keyboard layout, and drive partitioning, then prompts you to create your user account (if you have another OS installed, like Windows, it will allow you to import your personal data into the new OS). Then you can go and make a pot of tea while Ubuntu does its thing. About 30-45 minutes later (depending on the speed of your machine), you can leave the LiveCD environment and reboot into your shiny new Ubuntu OS.

Right away, however, I had my first nasty surprise. As some of you know, I use the Dvorak keyboard layout rather than the standard QWERTY one, for health reasons (ever since I made the switch, my hands definitely hurt a lot less when I type for extensive sessions), and until now Ubuntu has always been very good about making sure I can use my preferred layout in any application or environment, even on the console. This no longer appears to be the case with 9.10, as it took me about three failed login attempts to realize the system was interpreting my (unseen) password as QWERTY rather than Dvorak. In order to get Dvorak, I had to go into the keyboard settings of the default GNOME desktop and set it that way. Two things here: Ubuntu should have been smart enough to carry over my keyboard map from the LiveCD, as it has always done in the past; and setting the keyboard in this manner means that if I ever venture outside the confines of GNOME (as I often tend to do), my keyboard will revert to QWERTY in whatever environment I choose unless I employ whatever tool that environment uses to set a keymap. Until now, Ubuntu has always had a “set it and forget it” approach, where you choose your keyboard type during the installation process then never have to worry about it again… I don’t think this new philosophy is in any way an improvement.

I’m also extremely leery of the new default 9.10 login manager. In the past, gdm has featured a popup menu of options that allowed you easy access to alternate desktops as you install them. If this menu is present in the Ubuntu 9.10 version of this utility, I have yet to find it. You also do not type in your username anymore; instead, you must select it from a GUI list. Now, it’s entirely possible (I haven’t finished my explorations yet) that gdm can be configured to its old behavior, or that this is a case of “beta-itis” that will be worked out by the time 9.10 goes final, but the part of me that’s dealt with Ubuntu betas and RC versions in the past isn’t optimistic. More likely, this is, for better or worse, a new Ubuntu policy, to reduce the number of decisions an end user has to make in order to effectively use his or her computer.

And that’s all well and good, but from where I’m sitting, Ubuntu is appealing to the novices at the expense of their traditional base – power users.

9.10, thus far, gives every impression that Ubuntu is trying to really push the use of the GNOME desktop, and make it more difficult for someone to install an alternative environment. This is almost understandable, given the many different flavors of Ubuntu that’re out there, all of which differ mainly in the choice of default environment (KDE fans have Kubuntu, those who prefer Xfce have Xubuntu, there’s Fluxbuntu for the Fluxbox faithful, etc. etc. ad absurdium); the thought being, you use Ubuntu because you do prefer GNOME, else you would’ve picked one of the other -buntus, thus the distro is custom-tailored to be at its most effective while in a GNOME environment, to the exclusion of all others.

And there is nothing wrong with this approach, in theory. However, we are talking here about the main Ubuntu distribution, the one most people think of when they hear the word “Ubuntu.” They don’t think of Kubuntu or anything else… the GNOME-based version of the distro bears the name of the entire family (i.e., it’s not called “Gnomebuntu” or anything like that), and is thus the standard-bearer for all the other -buntus. Whether or not that’s actually true in practice, that is the impression it gives to those who aren’t familiar with the vicissitudes of the various flavors of Ubuntu. And if the “real” Ubuntu is becoming more restrictive in how you use it, it doesn’t speak well for Ubuntu as a whole… and that’s not even getting into the fact this approach runs totally counter to the traditional philosophy of a UNIX-based operating system; giving the user the freedom to make his or her own choices as to the software he or she uses on that system. The new Ubuntu makes changing desktops, while not prohibitively difficult, certainly less convenient than Ubuntu has ever been before, and that’s quite disturbing to see.

Locking users (at least those who aren’t in the know about such things) into one particular work environment is the kind of trick a proprietary OS would pull… and that is precisely what a FLOSS-based OS should not aspire towards. Ubuntu is not Windows; it shouldn’t try to behave like it, at least in terms of forcing a particular desktop down its users throats whether they want it or not. I always thought Linux, regardless of distro, was supposed to be about freedom of choice above all else.

If I want my OS to make decisions for me about how I should do things, I’ll quite frankly stick with Windows XP and at least be reasonably sure all my hardware works to its fullest capability…

Related posts:

1. Reminder: Ubuntu 9.04 Hits Thursday
2. Extreme Makeover: Ubuntu Edition
3. Ubuntu 6.10 Final Released
4. Ubuntu 7.10 Is Here
5. Review of Ubuntu 7.10