edoviak wrote:...
[*]Is it because so many Ubuntu users are newbies?
From my own personal experience, it isn't because they are just newbies, per say, but that some of them really have no clue. Nor do they want one. Many, MANY have just heard of Linux in the first place and thought they'd be 'leet and grab a Ubuntu ISO. They don't even know how to burn an ISO, much less install and administer a Linux machine. Nor do they give a crap. And when they aren't willing to put in a little elbow grease, they just start spouting about how "LINUX IS THE SUX0RZ", when in reality it is _they_ who are the SUX0RZ.
[*]Is it the bad habits they learn in Ubuntu Forums?
See above. There's a ton of spoon-feeding that goes on there. Lending a hand is one thing. Spoon-feeding is another entirely. Spoon-feeding only begets more spoon-feeding.
[*]Is it the happy trail of sudo that they leave behind?
I honestly don't care about sudo. I don't use it myself, but then again, I haven't grown up using it either, so I'm unlikely to.
[*]Is it because Ubuntu is a very popular distribution?
Popularity shmopularity. I wouldn't call Ubuntu the Paris Hilton of the Linux world, because that would be disingenuous, however, it does seem to attract the same sort of celebrity worship. For the life of me, I can't see why.
I don't use Ubuntu, but I do recommend it to GNU/Linux newbies because
- they can get answers to common questions very quickly on Ubuntu Forums (is this a bug or a feature?)
Therein lies the crux eh?
[*]they get a clean, working desktop right after installation
While that may be a good thing - at first - it doesn't do much to sustain a community that's worked hard together for the better part of two decades now. It seems to sustain the "GIMME GIMME GIMME NOW NOW NOW" sort of attitude.
[*]they can install PDF editor and NTFS-3G without having to deal with Backports or Lenny (makes my life easier).[/list]
Working for something isn't such a bad thing.
An example for you: My 10 year old nephew has wanted a snowmobile for quite some time. His dad decided that rather than get him a shiny new one, he was going to get him a beater and teach him how to make it work. He did just that, and now, together, they've turned that beater into a better sled than the shiny new one was. And the boy can now fix the thing in the middle of a blinding snowstorm out in a corn field instead of having to limp it back to the garage, like he'd have to do with the shiny new one, the new one being under warrantee and him without the mechanical knowledge he's absorbed building up the beater. Which do you think the boy appreciates more?
I guess what I'm getting at is that I find that distros like Ubuntu seem to breed laziness.
That's never good for a community.
Now get off my lawn!
...Rob