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State of Ubuntu

the_Grinch

A few years back when discussing Ubuntu, it was referred to as baby Linux. No one was actually using their server edition in production (so the conversation went) and real admins were using X (be it Redhat, SuSE, Solaris, etc). Fast forward to today, what do you think the current buzz is with Ubuntu? Is it still baby Linux?

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Comments

WafflesAndRootbeer

Ubuntu is the most popular and used distro out there according to the stats. It's designed to be user-friendly and is particularly geared towards those who are not technical-minded. As for their server distro, I don't know of anyone who uses it for professional purposes but I would imagine that it is used outside of the US. I myself use Ubuntu, so I'm fine with it.

networker050184

It's definitely one of the more user friendly, ready on install distros. If that's what you mean by 'baby Linux' then it hasn't changed.

I have never seen an Ubuntu server used for anything customer facing though a few people have under the desk boxes for scripts, shell access, etc.

YuckTheFankees

Ubuntu is the most popular distro for personal use, but I have not seen it in a business environment. Out of the three I.T. companies I have worked with, they all used CentOS or Red Hat.

ptilsen

I've seen a Ubuntu server. It was setup by a developer to host some minor tool. I have never seen an IT department running Ubuntu for production servers. I, too, have seen mostly RedHat and CentOS. By comparison, the only time I've ever heard of a non-techie using Linux is Ubuntu.

I don't think much has changed for Ubuntu in the last few years.

the_Grinch

Yeah that's what I kind of figured. I guess I keep seeing them making strides and some companies talking about it, but wanted to see what the boots on the ground see. Thanks all!

Kinet1c

I was a fan of Ubuntu desktop up until probably 10.04 and after that felt it had gotten too heavy. I use Lubuntu every once in a while as I have it installed on my USB keys and also my old eeepc 1000.

MentholMoose

I think RHEL is more common at companies in the US, but Ubuntu is definitely in use. For a regular enterprise using off the shelf software, RHEL might be the only option since some vendors will support RHEL and not Ubuntu. But for deployments running custom (in house) applications, there is not much difference. The developers may use Ubuntu on their desktop and prefer to build their application for Ubuntu servers. I've seen a gaming company with thousands of Ubuntu VMs running custom game servers.

log32

I have been using Ubuntu server for fog project (imaging system - works amazing) since it did not work right for RHEL6, but our linux environment consists of RHEL only.
Ubuntu is definitely a friendly one for new users and IMO could switch windows if they both had the same support for office files (openoffice/libre does not work well enough to satisfy me anyway)

ccnxjr

MentholMoose wrote: »

...For a regular enterprise using off the shelf software, RHEL might be the only option since some vendors will support RHEL and not Ubuntu. But for deployments running custom (in house) applications, there is not much difference. ...

I'll second that, for Dell provides drivers and support documentation for RedHat Enterprise Linux 6 (in addition to Windows , Citrix and VMWare) on their Power Edge series of servers. There might be support for Ubuntu (or various other distros) but not easily found on their website or support page .

UnixGuy

I've seen Ubuntu used as a Server and jobs asking for experience with Ubuntu.