Ubuntu has taken another step that, honestly, leaves me scratching my head. While most distributions try to offer as many convenient GUI tools as possible to help users manage every part of their system, Ubuntu… apparently sees things a bit differently.
I say this because Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (scheduled for release on April, 23) will no longer ship the long-standing “Software & Updates” graphical tool by default on fresh desktop installs, following a change proposed in Launchpad as bug 2140527.
The adjustment replaces the software-properties-gtk package in the desktop seed with software-properties-common, effectively removing the visible GUI while keeping the underlying repository management tools in place.
“software-properties is an old gtk application essentially focused on deb/apt world. Many of its features are dangerous or too complex for normal users (removing main, enabling proposed, source without specifying what, …)”
First it was Mir, the alternative to X and Wayland. Then it was Unity (notice the name!), yet another desktop environment. Now it’s snaps, as an alternative to flatpak.
Are you noticing the pattern? It’s always Canonical trying to force some distro-agnostic tool into the Linux community, so other distros start depending on Canonical. Always doing this through unnecessary fragmentation.
To be clear, fragmentation is not always bad. Sometimes it enables people to appease different target demographics; specially in the context of Unity. However the way Canonical does this stinks “we want control!” from a distance.
With that in mind, look at the part I’ve emphasised. It shows the actual reason why Canonical is ditching software-properties from the defaults: because it wants to press further for snaps, in detriment of .deb packages.
What follows is basically an excuse. I don’t think it’s actually removing it because “it’s too dangerous” or whatnot. However, if anything “this is an excuse, not the real reason” only adds injury, because it shows 1) that Canonical sees no problem misleading the users on why it does something; and 2) the people working there are so detached, but so detached from the userbase that they don’t get why this would rub users the wrong way. (It’s basically a “you’re trash too stupid to not cause itself harm” dammit.)
Ah, by the way: Canonical was always some sort of Apple wannabe.
I was thinking about it recently. For Linux to compete with Windows in corporate settings it has to offer some very specific functionalities. It has to basically be remotely managed. At one of my previous companies Mac users were not able to use AirDrop or even change the desktop background and screen saver. Linux users still had root level access and could do whatever they wanted because the company didn’t have tools to manage Linux desktops. If Canonical is trying to get corporate clients (and I think they are) then yes, they absolutely need to treat their users as if they can’t be trusted. That’s because corporations don’t trust their employees. And it’s perfectly fine, just don’t use Ubuntu as a personal distro.
This is not true in any way shape or form.
User roles and controls are baked into linux and have been since its inception
Also RHEL has been The Corporate Linux for decades
At this point I’m starting to wonder if Canonical is in the Epstein files.
After experiencing Canonical’s recruitment process, which they claim to be extremely proud of, I can only imagine that if the other departments operate with a similar mindset the entire company is a non-sensical hell.
this is why you should Debian
I usually use [K]ubuntu because I always try to install Debian first, but it ships with kernels so outdated that it rarely “just works” on the not-particularly-weird hardware I throw at it. That’s understandable when it’s missing drivers for my AMD 9070 XT GPU on launch day, but not so much when it’s missing drivers for the Intel AX101 wifi chipset that got released 3.5 years before. (I’ve also experienced weird installation failures with Debian related to the partitioning and/or bootloader, but I don’t remember the details of those right now. Point is, Ubuntu is – unfortunately – more reliable to install without tweaking or troubleshooting, in my experience.)
Then Fedora may be an option for you. They have a KDE spin.
Besides that, Debian is my default distro nowadays; everything just works for me.
I was using Gentoo previously for many years, because I didn’t require out-of-the-box back then.
I’m too lazy and set in my ways to switch away from
apt.(I also used Gentoo, many years ago when I could actually be bothered.)
By sheer coincidence, I just made an install image yesterday and will be switching soon
nice, Debian is more stable and you will have an easy switch, use the graphical install.
This is what really pisses me off about the Linux community. Everyone says the same thing about every distro, except Arch. That shits apparently for hardcore CLI only programmers or something.
Mint’s whole paradigm is an OS that emphasizes stability and usability and you claim Debian is more stable even though it’s the cutting edge base of an entire distro tree while Mint is 2 years behind it’s Ubuntu base to ensure functionality? Make it make sense.
You’re a little confused about how this stuff works. Debian is not cutting-edge.
E: btw “not cutting-edge” is neither inherently positive, nor inherently negative
Well Mint is based on Ubuntu (unless you get the Debian Edition) and Ubuntu is based on Debian sooo…
Basically the majority of Linux distros are based on either Debian, Fedora or Arch. IMHO it’s usually best to go with one of the originals, not the derivatives. Although I will admit Ubuntu has made Debian a lot better over the years, but that’s only because they took the bits from Ubuntu that actually made sense and ignored the rest.
I was just thinking about swapping from Mint to Debian the other day actually…
you can try linux mint debian edition. i love it so far <3
I might have to check that out, thanks!
What’s the recruitment process like?
There’s an opening for a position you’re interested in, so you fill one of these long “everything is in your CV, but you need to retype on our formulary again” registrations.
A week later, they contact you via email. A very enthusiastic person, signing by their own name and no automated HR shenanigans claims to have enjoyed what they saw and you’re through to the next step. There’s some corporate “we are an amazing workplace for excepcional people” fluff, but nothing terrible, so let’s proceed.
You now have a week to type and send a document that is got nothing to do with the position or your technical skills. You need to type a biography, you need to describe how you were in high school, were you social? You need to show proof of your high school grades, then college, you need to give a biographical memoir of your life. But sure, it’s Canonical right, great for your career so you proceed.
So then a technical interview comes up. You have a time limit to fill it out, but the questions won’t be actually deep enough to test your skills - they would just veto somebody with zero idea of what’s going on, so it becomes tedious. A child with an AI Chatbot can probably score enough.
So then you move on to an IQ test, with baffling things such as tests of reaction time (if I ever needed fast reaction times in my field of study, ring the bell because a zombie apocalypse just ruptured our office building).
You’re tired of the bs, but they email you three times in a row telling you about the deadlines for completion. Now somebody wants to speak with you, and guess what, they haven’t checked your CV, or your biography, or your results from the tests, so get used to explaining everything again.
You’ll have quite a few meetings like this, always moving up to the “higher ups” that are equally unaware of who you are, until you reach a VP. And then they put you on hold… so hope things work out, because they actually can leave you in hold forever, answer that the position is actually no longer available, or finally hire you. They have KPIs that incentivize having “candidates being evaluated” which means keeping you on limbo at the end of the process is a great result on their dashboards. Oh, and don’t trust the “oh we loved you, you’re in, let’s sign next week” because the probability of not signing is still high.
I’m glad I never applied.
I’m at a loss for words. I don’t think I could write better satire that’s still believable.
That’s just terrible, dang.
wait you have to verify your grades…from high school!?
shit I’d turn it around on them and say “I could verify my grades from high school for you but first I’d like you to verify how you believe every update you release won’t some how break a majority of users Ubuntu installs”
wait you have to verify your grades…from high school!?
Yep. More than once.
Isn’t this GUI how you manage your Nvidia drivers? Pretty big hit to accessibility if they take that away
If they want to modernize or simplify the tool, fine.
What really bothers me is removing the current tool before you have a replacement ready. Worst tech trend ever!OH WHAT THE FUCK CANONICAL IS GOING ALL MICROSLOP-MODE
Time for someone to make Updatebuntu spin to add it back
Does Timeshift work on Ubuntu? It works on Mint, which is based on Ubuntu.
But if this crap keeps up, I might go with LMDE7.
Maybe it’s just trying to be Linux, for Windows users.
Someone bought them outright. To be fair about this, what they’re doing, at this entity’s hands, is treating people like Microsoft and Apple treat their users: like criminals.
Corporations police harder than governments, though.
