Tuesday, August 29th 2006

Ubuntu apologizes for it's faulty patch.

A patch released on August 21 did more harm then good the day it was released. While it may have fixed some security problems, it completely eliminated the Graphical User Interface (GUI). After patching, several thousand users had to work in command line until installing an older patch. "As a team we made a series of errors, and the result was a desktop that was broken for thousands of users, for several hours. It has been a severe lesson in (quality assurance)," the founder of Ubuntu said in his blog. Ubuntu users are divided over how to react to this. Some users "don't think Linux is ready for prime-time yet... It's too much work for to little reward." Others feel that Ubuntu will not let such a problem happen again, and hating Ubuntu for this incident "is no different than someone falling off a chair and then blaming gravity for their misfortune." Ubuntu will try to prevent future issues from happening using several methods, including a possible future rollback tool. Detailed instructions on how to fix the problem can be found here.
Source: Techworld
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10 Comments on Ubuntu apologizes for it's faulty patch.

#1
Jimmy 2004
Well I haven't been able to use Ubuntu recently with my PC problems but I'm glad this didn't effect me.
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#2
Dark Ride
Glad I uninstalled ubuntu and didn't apply that patch. Linux is not ready for the big stage yet, that's a fact.
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#3
jocksteeluk
what is unbuntu? some kind of virus or brand of foreign import beer?
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#4
wazzledoozle
Haha, and *nix users like to bash Windows... if Microsoft released a patch that did this, it would be tech story of the century. Linux is nowhere-near ready for anything beyond servers and *nix geeks.
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#5
oldschool
As much as I'd really like to see Linux as a practical, useful, well supported desktop O/S, in my experience with several versions of Suse and Lindows, they simply ain't ready for Prime Time. Suse's support is an insult to the word support. Linux is still a geeks O/S for all practical purposes and many geeks desire to keep it that way.

Windows sucks and everyone knows it but the open source community is too egotistic to get their act together and deliver a quality desktop O/S while they have a golden opportunity. And until there is a viable mainstream open source desktop O/S, commercial software makers won't bother writing similar application software for open source so people can easily migrate to open source. MICROSUCKS knows all of this and that is why it can peddle it's defective O/Ss and reap BILLIONS in profits annually.
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#6
oldschool
Piracy is a crime for which all Pirates shall be punished, rather you like it or not.
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#7
Jimmy 2004
wazzledoozleHaha, and *nix users like to bash Windows... if Microsoft released a patch that did this, it would be tech story of the century. Linux is nowhere-near ready for anything beyond servers and *nix geeks.
True, but the Ubuntu developers issued an apology much quicker than M$ ever hade and I didn't have to pay the equivilent of $115 for Ubuntu.
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#8
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
Jimmy 2004True, but the Ubuntu developers issued an apology much quicker than M$ ever hade and I didn't have to pay the equivilent of $115 for Ubuntu.
Maybe Microsoft has never apologied that quickly because they have NEVER done anything this bad. You pay for Windows because things like this don't happen on Windows.
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#9
g12rxz
to be honest, everything would run alot faster if we could all navigate with the command line :) with linux at least, cause i now run a server from home, its way more efficient to set everything up in gui, then set it to boot up to command line, saves a helluva lotta ram! but i would agree that its not ready for any normal user, i couldn't see my mom, dad or brother using linux, but they all can use windows, to a degree. If linux were to become successful, it needs to be built, i hate to say it, but for it to appeal to 'people', it needs to be more like windows and mac's OS. The open source community needs to stop doing different projects and focus, cause red hat, suse, ubuntu and all the other distros have their ups and downs. if everyone worked on one huge project from each different distro, they could build an amazingly powerful, stable and easy to use product. i wouldnt care if i had to pay for it either, i would understand paying like 20-50 bucks for an OS, assuming it ran games :D 90 bucks for windows xp home oem is ridiculous though.

edit:
newtekie1Maybe Microsoft has never apologied that quickly because they have NEVER done anything this bad. You pay for Windows because things like this don't happen on Windows.
as for MS, they're alot worse. the best answer you can get from tech support for an ms operating system is to wipe it. i dont see that as being 'good'.
Posted on Reply
#10
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
g12rxzas for MS, they're alot worse. the best answer you can get from tech support for an ms operating system is to wipe it. i dont see that as being 'good'.
I have dealt with MS tech support on many occasions and never once been told to simply reformat and start fresh. At least there is tech support and a number you can actually call if you have a problem with Windows...if you have a problem with Linux what number do you call to get help?

The big difference is that with Linux there is absolutely no real tech support. The best you have is a bunch of forums and you have to rely on other linux users to figure it out, you get the same thing with Windows also, there are tons of Windows forums on helping people with problems just like there are tons of Linux forums, however with Windows there is at least someone to hold accountable if it doesn't work right. To the normal user and the corporate user that is a requirement a lot of the time.
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