Canonical seem to think that Ubuntu is an Operating System… From the http://www.ubuntu.com website, front page… “Ubuntu is a community developed, linux-based operating system”.

Oh, and sorry about the Adobe typo. It has been fixed now. Any time you’d like to post a link back to your own blog I’d be more than happy to proof read it for you in return for the good work you’re doing here mate

Cheers

Chris

“Flash has released a new version of flashplayer”

Adobe released a new version of the Flash player.
Ubuntu is not an operating system.

Thanks for your comments though. They provide an interesting counter argument to my discussion. I hope people enjoy reading both sides of the debate and choose their own position. I don’t see however how this debate is going anywhere from here forward. Please don’t be irate.

Cheers

Chris

I know well that this is YOUR blog. I also know well the difference between a forum and a blog thank you very much. I’m not sure what your point here is. If you are a little upset because I check back in occasionally to see that what I right is coherent, well I call that being responsible for clarity.

I don’t believe I’ve missed the point at all. Perhaps you’ve missed the point that I was making. At the end of my first comment I said:

The team could likely address this problem a little better, but for now lets not be so fast to call things unforgivable.”

My comments are not so much about what you said but how you said it. I am not complaining here as much as I am pointing out that Ubuntu’s future is not so easily discounted because a few users may not be content waiting for Flash to be fixed. That in the end there are other things that will bring those users back to stay.

It can be somewhat easy to see counter arguments as full of anger. These are not. I believe they were both respectful and addressed specific issues germane to the original post. If you see that differently, then I apologize.

The ability for you to respond to an article is provided to give you a chance to tell me what you think – if you want to. There are links in the article to places where people can discuss this more fully.

To be honest, I think you’re missing the point. I’m an Ubuntu advocate, but part of helping Ubuntu become better is recognising where problems occur, and critiquing the product too.

Thanks

Chris.

Flash is not the ethos, nor is “Just Works” really though I guess it comes close enough to part of the ethos–a small part. The real issue here is that Ubuntu’s ethos works against us in the case of commercially licensed products like Flash.

I suppose that is the politics you refer to above. Lets get something straight here. Freedom is about politics and not about politics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software). Debating this in this forum is a waste of time because it is more thoroughly debated in so many other places. I’m also not the right one to have that debate with. I’d just say that understanding Open Source software in general, Ubuntu more specifically, is not so easily done as to so blithely consign it to politics. Such a thing misleads more than it enlightens.

Oh, and debian appears to be more responsive to this:
http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=flashplugin-nonfree&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all

Everything from etch(stable) to sid(unstable) has the updated package(9.0.115.0.1) already.

Ubuntu, on the other hand:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?keywords=flashplugin-nonfree&searchon=names&subword=1&version=all&release=all

Most of the versions have 9.0.48.0.0. Only hardy have 9.0.115.0.1.

Cast an eye over the Ubuntu website. You see tag lines like ‘Ubuntu Just Works!’ and software which you can ‘install at the click of a button’. If we’re not providing that with the most commonly used software then we’re lying. Then our ethos is just media hype. That’s the problem.

If we let politics dictate the way in which we deliver our service then we lose. Game over.

Losing users is never good.

2. Mr. Average Joe may well return to windows until he learns he will have to replace much of his hardware for Vista.

3. Mr. Joe has likely already crossed the line where he is likely to give up so easily. He is adventurous enough to take the major step of installing a new OS and it looks like he is savvy enough to reinstall Windows.

So lets put an end to this crap. Yes we’ll lose some users, but in the end we will be better off.

The team could likely address this problem a little better, but for now lets not be so fast to call things “unforgivable.”