Mint Overtakes Ubuntu for #1 spot

[voss749]

Mint has taken the top spot for the last thirty days, Fedora in 2nd and ubuntu in 3rd.

Whats even more interesting is that Mint has passed ubuntu by in page hits for the 3 month marker as well.

[lmintnewb]

About time, would be about right. Canonical pays to help bring linux out. People start realizing there's something to it n also start realizing ubuntu isn't the only game in town. So good ... hope the trend continues. And all the distro's that put ubuntu to shame ( Mint etc.) get their turn in the sun. Instead of everything being ubuntu this n ubuntu that in the public perception.

Wouldn't hurt me to see Mint on top or a bunch of others, other than ubuntu. Starting to wonder if I'm wrong in disliking them so much ? Buntu did apparently attract a lot of attention for gnu/linux. Even if I feel they are buggy, bloated and wayyyy overhyped by comparison to other flavors of nix. Sighs ...

[tdockery97]

Actually Mint is #1 on DistroWatch under the "Last 3 Months" view now also.

[proxima_centauri]

*Merged Ubuntu in THIRD on distrowatch for 30 day count thread from Non-technical questions

[zacklyke]

We'll have to start doing some guerrilla marketing tactics to keep Mint on the minds and hearts of users. This is a great trend.

[AlbertP]

More interest in Mint means... more users trying Mint. Mint being at the top of Distrowatch also attracts users that expect the top distros to be the best ones.

[nunol]

With a KDE and a LXDE version testing the next target is the 6 months data span, right know we are 129 HPD from Ubuntu, that's only 5,6% of Ubuntu's HPD.

[mikk0]

Re: Ubuntu slipping down the list.
My own feeling is that Unity did it for them.
There were plenty of reviews politely pointing out that Unity was a mess once you got more than a couple of windows open.
Enough to put anyone off giving it a try.

[RedLeg]

About time, would be about right. Canonical pays to help bring linux out. People start realizing there's something to it n also start realizing ubuntu isn't the only game in town. So good ... hope the trend continues. And all the distro's that put ubuntu to shame ( Mint etc.) get their turn in the sun. Instead of everything being ubuntu this n ubuntu that in the public perception.

Wouldn't hurt me to see Mint on top or a bunch of others, other than ubuntu. Starting to wonder if I'm wrong in disliking them so much ? Buntu did apparently attract a lot of attention for gnu/linux. Even if I feel they are buggy, bloated and wayyyy overhyped by comparison to other flavors of nix. Sighs ...

I think this post says a lot that is wrong with Linux users as a whole. The community aspect is one of the greatest things that makes Linux appealing to me. I used to think that the competition between distros was a competition of good ideas and style, not who has the #1 spot. The truth is that there is no distro that "put ubuntu to shame," nor is there any that put Mint, Fedora, Gentoo, #!, etc. to shame. The fact remains that Ubuntu is very well built and influential as distros go (many others are based on it). Thanks to the LinuxMint team, the good aspects of Ubuntu are applied in a way that appeals to other people. This is an open and free environment and the rhetoric quoted above is better suited for the likes of MS and Apple. The fact that other distros are gaining ground on 'buntu should not be viewed as a slight on Canonical, but as an achievement of the entire Linux community for diversifying.

When one distro excels, the community wins because it motivates the other development teams to do better. It is not worth it to fire baseless insults on the efforts of others ("they are buggy, bloated and wayyyy overhyped" this could be said about any distro) because of a sense of over-importance being placed on personal principles of value.

[rjs]

Imagine my shock, or lack thereof. Anyone that cares to stand united (unity=togetherness) with a company that suddenly decides to force their mac fetishes upon the linux user populace needs to have their head examined. Just recently in a tech article I read, it states that Apple has decided that the desktop is outdated and that they are working towards the post desktop era timeframe where most of the work will be done on hand held devices, tablets, etc. It appears Mark S. is no more than an Apple fan creating an apple wannabe dekstop for hand held devices. So, he is following suit.

Just remember Ubuntu changing the location of the buttons recently from the right to the left for no good reason. Now Unity. You can clearly see where this is headed. What Cononical doesn't seem to understand is that they don't control Linux, Linux users, or the marketshare like they think they do. And they are running on a thin line by not including and being part of the larger picture, but running off in their own direction. There will be an exodus over Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity. How large? I don't know. But as a person that has used Ubuntu exclusively on the desktop since it's very first revisions, I've already decided enough was enough and refuse to use the unusable. Gnome3 also appears to be heading off into the abyss. Their direction is less than admirable from my point of view as well.

For new users, it's one thing to change the buttons from the left back to the right and get on with it, but to change the whole desktop will not be within the scope of technical options for people just getting into Linux. And I don't believe the majority will be "loving" unity any time soon. I have no doubt that Linux Mint will have a bright future if they don't follow the path of Ubuntu.

[karashata]

I do have to admit that GNOME 3 does seem to be pushing toward being more hand-held device friendly, however, I've been running it on my LMDE install for some time and I must say that it's still usable on a desktop or laptop. It's definitely different from a more traditional environment and it does take a little getting used to, but I find I'm spending more time on my LMDE install with GNOME 3 than I spend on my Mint 11 'Katya' install with GNOME 2.32.

My only real complaint: Customizing GNOME 3's appearance isn't nearly as easy or convenient as in GNOME 2.32. While it can be done with enough patience and determination, as well as some hunting, it would be much more convenient to have a proper utility to change appearance-related settings from similar (or identical, even) to that in GNOME 2.

[rhY]

Ubuntu has a HOST of issues:

Unity, obviously
Horrible default theme
Poor default apps
<violates forum rules> Forum administration
rude and snobby users
half-baked mac cloning (Window buttons go WHERE?!?!)
Stability issues
Driver issues
Performance issues

Mint has been head and shoulders better than Ubuntu since Version 7 at least. Version 10 and 11.... Totally off the charts.

I say ABOUT FRIGGIN' TIME!!!

[Oscar799]

Whilst it is fine to express opinions and have lively discussions please refrain from calling people <violates forum rules> - it is very offensive

[fraxinus_63]

It will be interesting to see how Xubuntu fares over the next few months. XFCE might be a very good choice for Ubuntu users who cannot stomach Unity ... or indeed users of other distros who have no use for the Gnome Shell.

I am very happy indeed that Mint is sticking with Gnome 2 for its current release. In the future I am much more likely to move to XFCE than to adopt Gnome 3, for many reasons. I don't use touchscreens or netbooks - I use a conventional desktop with a 22" monitor, I routinely have many applications and processes running at once, and I need a "proper" desktop experience with a dock etc.!

[AlbertP]

I think also that Mint should perhaps move to some other GTK-based DE instead of Gnome, when Gnome 3 or Unity aren't possible for future releases. Possibly Xfce, LXDE, Fluxbox or Enlightenment with Gnome apps.
And Ubuntu is back at the top at 3-month.

[MALsPa]

I think also that Mint should perhaps move to some other GTK-based DE instead of Gnome, when Gnome 3 or Unity aren't possible for future releases. Possibly Xfce, LXDE, Fluxbox or Enlightenment with Gnome apps.

I think that would be great, especially if it was Xfce.

[AlbertP]

I have only tried Xfce briefly in a VM and not tried the others, but I am sure the Mint team will make a good choice for future releases.

[fraxinus_63]

I think also that Mint should perhaps move to some other GTK-based DE instead of Gnome, when Gnome 3 or Unity aren't possible for future releases. Possibly Xfce, LXDE, Fluxbox or Enlightenment with Gnome apps.

I think that would be great, especially if it was Xfce.

+1

[rhY]

Whilst it is fine to express opinions and have lively discussions please refrain from calling people <violates forum rules> - it is very offensive

If the jackboot fits, I'm going to make them wear it. The peeps over on that forum are incredibly rude, smug, controlling, intolerant, and excessively authoritarian. <violates forum rules> feels like a good word to describe this behavior. Everybody's a sweetheart here on the Mint forums! Sweetheart is an equally good descriptor.

[Oscar799]

You may feel that is an appropriate description,but it is not an appropriate term to use on Mint Forum
Please do not post that word again
Thank you