https://github.com/simoniz0r
bnu.fantasma@gmail.com
What's pretty easy though is to set the record straight:
--> Not true. If it was, we'd have no users. We've many users precisely because they like what we do.• Not a recommended Linux distro due to providing little to no benefit over using an Ubuntu flavor...
--> Not true. We don't just implement new features, we also patch bugs to correct issues which aren't fixed in Ubuntu. The same way Ubuntu patches issues which aren't fixed in Debian. It's a silly comparison in my opinion because every set of new features includes its own specific problems, but if you look at package sets which are common between the three distributions, there obviously are more patches the lower you go. It's very rare to find a patch in Debian which isn't in Ubuntu, and it's very rare to find a patch in Ubuntu which isn't in Mint. Fixes made in Debian are inherited by Ubuntu. Fixes in Ubuntu are inherited by Mint. As a rule of thumb, the more ancestry a derivative has, the more layers of fixes and improvements it inherits. Sometimes these changes aren't considered better by everybody, and that's OK (language packs in Ubuntu vs locale handling in Debian for instance), but as a rule of thumb more things are fixed downstream than upstream, that's just common sense since downstream inherits upstream.... and being generally more broken than Ubuntu and its flavors.
--> Not true. Somebody writing this on his blog and not caring how ridiculous it looked doesn't make it True, even if he happened to be hired by Canonical. Despite sharing the same package format, Ubuntu and Debian are incompatible. There is no incompatibility in Linux Mint or in LMDE, they're both fully compatible with their respective repositories and their respective parent distributions (Ubuntu for Linux Mint and Debian for LMDE), and they are incompatible with each other the same way Ubuntu and Debian are incompatible with each other. I think what happened was that the Canonical employee heard about LMDE without really knowing what it was and thought we were a distribution based both on Ubuntu and Debian... anyway, I'm not sure what he though, but we don't mix incompatible package bases. Mint and LMDE are separate distributions.• Has been known to mix Ubuntu and Debian packages, resulting in a [FrankenDebian](https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian ... nkenDebian).
--> True. This one is actually true, wow• Has been known to have issues with upgrading between releases.
I'd go even further, we didn't just have rough upgrades, we do have rough upgrades. Upgrading between point releases is smoother than anywhere else, I think we really got this right. Upgrading between major releases though is complicated, tedious and it doesn't always go well. It's important to understand why it's so complicated though. The hurdles we bump into (python3 for instance in the 19.3 -> 20 upgrade) are hurdles which exist upstream from us, either in Debian or in Ubuntu. Upstream distributions suffer the same issues. I think we're doing better than Debian here but not as good as Ubuntu, and there certainly is a lot we can do better. I'm not sure I'd recommend a different distribution based on this, because it's not really clear to me who else got this done really smoothly, but I'd definitely agree with the fact that this is a weak point and we need to do better here.--> Not true. It's actually Ubuntu who was hacked twice.• Website has been hacked twice{semi}
2013 https://ubuntu.com/blog/notice-of-secur ... orums-site
2016 https://ubuntu.com/blog/notice-of-secur ... ntu-forums
--> Again, that's not true. Official ISOs were never compromised. The website was hacked and pointed to fake ISOs, these fake ISOs contained malware. This happened, was detected and stopped on February 20th 2016 https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2994.one of these times resulted in malware being distributed in Linux Mint's ISOs.
It's easy to point the finger and say this shouldn't happen. We spent a huge amount of money and resources on security since this incident by the way, but if there's one thing we learnt about security it's to never feel safe again. Ubuntu being hacked more than us doesn't mean they're a bad distribution. It means they're a bigger target. Entire corporations, governments, secret services agencies sometimes get hacked. Given enough talent and resources nobody's safe. It's really petty to use this as a way to convince. I feel ashamed when I see people in our community (not our Mint community, but our Linux community) act like fan boys, spit on people's work, spread rumours and lies. It doesn't just demotivate me to do anything constructive, it makes Linux as a whole look terrible.
Think of Windows users peeking at this microcosm which represents less than 2% of the market and seeing all these petty fights. When I joined this community in the 90s it was full of really interesting people who wanted to help, promote and share their passion. If the minute I got in all I could see was toxicity and stupidity I'd be running Windows right now.
This Discord isn't just some private chat room, it's a public server called Discord Linux. It's the one people join when looking for a Linux Discord, and it's giving both Discord and Linux a very bad name right now.
