jwboyer ([info]jwboyer) wrote,
@ 2008-02-16 14:45:00
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Entry tags:fedora

Because it's there...
I keep getting asked "Why do you use Fedora?" or, in another variation, "Why don't you use Ubuntu?". The answer is really quite simple, lacking any kind of whiz bang OMGWTFBBQ pizazz completely. I use Fedora because I've never had a reason to use something else.

That might not sound like it means much, but if you think about it a bit it's actually a fairly good statement on the distribution as a whole. I'm sure there are exceptions of other people that have computing interests that are more varied than mine which require something Fedora doesn't or can't do. Even my wife uses a different operating system. But for my daily computer use, I have nothing wanting or lacking from Fedora. Even running rawhide on my laptop at home, it mostly "just works".

I have tried other distros. I have a CentOS install somewhere that is running something or other on it. I tried using Gentoo for about 4 months several years ago. I played with Ubuntu a bit when I first got my Dell n-Series box. I think I even had installed Mandrake at one point. I wasn't as comfortable with any of them as I am with Fedora.

And that really shouldn't come as much of a surprise. My first real Linux install was Red Hat Linux 7.1, and I've used some form of RHL/Fedora ever since then. Then there's the fact that since around the Fedora Extras 3 time frame (sounds so weird to say Extras now!), I've actually been involved with Fedora as more than just a consumer. So I have a lot invested in Fedora, and switching to something different because it's new and shiny seems like a waste of time.

Fedora certainly isn't for everyone. At times it's ideals, or politics if you prefer to call them that, can conflict with end user's desires. And there are things that Fedora just isn't suited for. But as a daily, general purpose/development OS, I think it holds it's own.

So there is my very boring answer. I'm actually more interested in why other people use Fedora. Or more importantly, if they tried Fedora for any extended period of time and switched to something else, why was that? (Please avoid replying if the answer is "media codecs out of the box because I'm not so interested in something that cannot be fixed within the ideals of Fedora.)


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(Anonymous)
2008-02-16 10:45 pm UTC (link)
My distro path is RH8, FC1, FC2, FC3, Gentoo, Kubuntu 7.04, Kubuntu 7.10, and now Fedora 8.

During my time with Gentoo, I gave KDE a try because of Konqueror, and I immediately liked it. Now that Fedora has a good KDE experience, it was a candidate for my new computer. I like Fedora's ideals. Also, I run CentOS on a server at home, and at school they have some RHEL 4 and 5 computers, so the consistency is nice.

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[info]jwboyer
2008-02-17 01:43 am UTC (link)
Interestingly enough, I also tried KDE when I used Gentoo. The app I really liked was Konsole. Even when I switched back to Gnome, I would often still use Konsole as opposed to gnome-termnial. Then I got more heavily involved in the development, and it was simply too much hassle to keep resetting all my preferences, etc. Eventually I just "got used" to gnome-terminal.

I should really try KDE, particularly KDE 4 since I run rawhide. I've heard Rex and Than have done really good things with it lately.

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[info]timlau.myopenid.com
2008-02-17 08:11 am UTC (link)
The first Linux i tried was RH6, at that It was using OS/2. The next
Linux i tried was Mandrake Linux 7.3 and it used a couple of different releases of Mandrake, along with the "other OS". When i tried FC2 i was sold, start using it as my primary OS, and i have been using fedora since then, it sometimes tries some of the other distros in a VM, but there is longer and longer between. My wife & kids is also using Fedora as there primary OS.
At work i have run OS/2, The Other OS, but now i run Open Client (an IBM internal Linux client based on RHEL5), i have an vm with 'The Other OS' to some special stuff.
I use Fedora because it make me feel at home, and i feel each release just get better and better. I feel strongly about the freedom polices in Fedora, don't like distroes adding a lot of proprietary just to please the "The Other OS" users switching to Linux. Yesterday, i had to help my dad remove some crap on his new laptop containing the latest version of the other OS. It really sucked. And want to put in a F8 DVD and wipe it all out, but i didn't got the time, but i will be back.

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(Anonymous)
2008-02-17 09:51 am UTC (link)
You could ask other people why they use Ubuntu. Is it because of the codec installation, or the massive hype? Or what they think about the lack of graphical configuration tools in Ubuntu? I think distros like Fedora, openSUSE, and Mandriva are better suited for much broader user profiles than Ubuntu, which only concentrates on it's minimal live-cd for base desktop usage.

It's not a good thing if Linux becomes a *buntu/Canonical monopol with only one philosoply. I don't like other distros than *buntu to become "alternative distros" like Linux is an "alternative OS". The decision to use other distros than *buntu should not be something that you have to defend every day for not only to your friends but also for your self.

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[info]malwkgad
2008-02-17 11:41 am UTC (link)
Well I used first Slackware. Then they stopped supporting Gnome. I have always preferred it instead of KDE for it was with simpler interface and it was much easier to explain to my mom what button makes what.

Then I tried Mandrake. I have never heart about yum or any similar tool, so installing a package beyond the CD provided ones was a pain. I left it after 1 month. Then it was Linux from scratch. It takes too much time, otherwise it was okay, a good experience to understand how everything works.

Next was Gentoo. It was somewhat okay, but it takes too much time to compile everything and the promised advantages simple were not there. Like "optimization for your hardware". Its simply not true, absolutely no speed or load difference.

Meanwhile on a spare box i have installed RedHat 9. It was a charm, but still i was not aware of yum. Didn't have the time to read about it and LFS was working okay for me at that time (Yes, I have had lots and lots of free time) so I played around with it just a few days. A friend of mine mailed me all the CDs plus a CD with additional software. I knew how to use rpm, but lots of deps were not met so i gave up.

A while back I was looking for a distribution that will present me with the latest gnome. I am really a big fan of gnome so it was important to me to have the latest version asap. Fedora was the distribution first to ship it. I got the CDs and installed. And I was in love with it.

How I was amazed:
* Excellent installation instructions available online - this made my day! Everything else I was using before I was on my own.
* Great integration - most of the system prefs had graphical tool for configuration. It was important to me, as fedora is using different path for configuring the system (/etc) that what I was used to and it would have take me month to figure everything at a time, when the most important for me was that everything just works.
* Easy to extend: of course I want to watch movies on my laptop! Who does not watch movies? Or at least clips. It was easy to learn about the extras. As well those were documented well enough.
* RPM - I will never EVER (at least in the near future) switch to a non rpm distro. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to have the update in less than minute instead of half an hour, without loading the laptop to the top! It just does not make sense to compile a software you are not interested in as a technology/source and just in use of it. Plus it makes it very easy to create a custom rpm (from scratch or from a src rpm) and then deploy it on all your machines.
* Innovation: I have tried many things I would not dare to try if I was still using the other distributions mentioned earlier. One of those I remember well is AIGLX and metacity's original openGL composition manager. It was available a whole cycle (the next release dropped the composite in metacity) but still it was awesome to show to my friends who were still struggling with XGL on top of X and compiz, especially the Intel video capable of this was something very cool back at the time.

It is true I don't like it every time and about every thing - I didn't like the pulse audio forced upon users the last release. What I like was the freedom to chose not to use it!

So all in all it is still the best choice of a distribution I have made over the years. I hope they (the ppl behind the project) will keep up with the good work in delivering a platform suitable enough for a house wife to use for browsing the internet and stay connected with her ever traveling son, for a developer, trying latest and greatest, for the manager, running its presentations and audits, for the kids to play games on....

from all of the mentioned above (friends and family of mine) a big thank you for all the ppl out there working hard for this to be possible.

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Re: .
(Anonymous)
2008-02-18 06:40 pm UTC (link)
I use Fedora because it means: freedom, INNOVATION (yes, with CAPS) and courage to be absolutely free. I also use it because it was a project started by Red Hat, which is the most prolific and most important contributor to linux in general (both with kernel and linux related projects).

Ubuntu, well ... i don't really know how a distro, which only real merit was to ship a gazillion of free CDs is nowadays the most popular distro. Seems that marketing is more important that real work and innovation. Upstart is the first real contribution of a supposed linux distro used by masses; sad, very sad. Ubuntu developers and users should be ashamed.

Anyway, i don't want to end this comment with a bad mood. Fedora, thanks for all and keep doing a great work!! :)

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