Do not use ubuntu !!!

[emax00]

For the following reasons don't install or recommend Ubuntu.

1. Development of Ubuntu is led by Canonical, Ltd. a UK-based "trading" company which generates revenue through the sale of "technical support" and "services."

2. By installing users agree to allow Ubuntu's parent company Canonical to collect user search data and IP addresses and to disclose this information to third parties including Facebook, Twitter, BBC and Amazon.

3. The adwares and spywares introduced in Ubuntu violates user's privacy and is one of the rare occasions in which a free software developer persists in keeping a malicious feature in its version of a program.

4. Whenever user searches the local files for a string using Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical's servers.

5. Ubuntu has received widespread objection from the open source community for violating free system distribution guidelines.

6. Canonical disgruntled upstream open source developers by introducing Mir, their own display server not derived from X11 or Wayland.

7. Ubuntu's policy prohibits commercial redistribution of exact copies of Ubuntu, denying the baseline freedom.

8. Ubuntu is basically Debian with extra "cool" look and is not binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS used by most EDA developers.

references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(operating_system)
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/ubuntu-spyware.html
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTMxNzY
https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html
**broken link removed**

 

[betwixt]

Do I detect a Microsoft employee? :-D

Brian.

 

[pplus]

Stallman need to read carefully, he usually exaggerates.

According to Stallman, the mere fact that Canonical chose to include malicious code in Ubuntu is damaging to the entire free software community, because users have come to expect that community oversight means free software won't contain malware.

Ubuntu allows users to switch the surveillance off. Clearly Canonical thinks that many Ubuntu users will leave this setting in the default state (on) and many may do so, because it doesn't occur to them to try to do anything about it. Thus, the existence of that switch does not make the surveillance feature OK.

https://cyber-techs.blogspot.com/2013/04/ubuntu-linux-is-spyware.html

 

[yura717]

I switched from Ubuntu to Debian ... but I guess I'll use FreeBSD in the future...

 

[audiomik]

Do I detect a Microsoft employee? :-D

Brian.

Don't think so after seeing discussions on various Linux User Groups of the same points!
Mik

 

[betwixt]

If you want a truly 'free' Linux the best I've seen is Trisquel, it's Ubuntu with all controversial software removed or replaced with free versions. It looks nice too!

To defend Ubuntu, you can turn the 'spy' functions off, the issues about it's security are really over whether they should be turned off by default. Personally, I would prefer then to be opt-in rather than opt-out but there comes a time in the life cycle of any major software when it becomes so big it has to start catering for the masses and (sadly) that means dumbing it down and doing what they want rather than strictly adhering to 'free' principles.

I know several Ubuntu users who have Hotmail, Facebook, Linkedin and other public accounts so no matter how secure the OS, they are laying their souls bare to the World anyway!

Brian.

 

[aurabindo.j]

If you are so concerned about privacy, the first thing you should do is *NOT* to stop using ubuntu, but to stop using windows https://www.wnd.com/2013/06/nsa-has-total-access-via-microsoft-windows/

Then you should stop using Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Then move on to the only fool-proof, p2p based messaging systems, like bitmessage.

As far as Linux and EDA is concerned, its better to use Fedora rather than Ubuntu, due to existence of "FEL", and Fedora never spy on users, and they will never ever do that.