[pgroves]

Kubuntu is not Ubuntu. It is a complete distro with KDE as the default desktop. In the future, KDE support will still be in Ubuntu, as much as it is in Opensuse. Opensuse allows you to pick which desktop to use [1]. OpenSuse is not a "KDE distro."

[1]http://en.opensuse.org/Product_highlights

[gsa]

Just to be clear, the DVD setup does allow you to pick the desktop you want, but KDE is selected by default.

[cookiecaper]

Puh-leese. Kubuntu and Ubuntu are the same distribution. They just replace your boot screens when you install kubuntu-desktop instead of just installing another DE.

I've always been annoyed at Canonical's packaging of different DEs as if they were entirely different distros.

[tbrownaw]

I've always been annoyed at Canonical's packaging of different DEs as if they were entirely different distros.

You mean they aren't? Really, how often do you have to go mess around under /etc ? A different DE is probably the biggest user-facing change you'll get.

[cookiecaper]

Of course they aren't. One of the coolest things about desktop Linux is that you can easily use whatever DE suits your fancy without having to do a bunch of footwork.

Packaging these as different distributions sends your users red flags about compatibility and ease of use. It makes people think they have to change their computer completely if they want to try something new. It makes them think they can't have concurrent DE installs if one user prefers XFCE and another prefers KDE and another prefers Gnome. It makes them look for "Kubuntu packages" instead of "Ubuntu packages" even though the distributions are binary compatible.

There are a lot of implications of pretending like you're a whole different OS when you're just a different default DE.

And I "mess around under /etc" frequently, probably multiple times per week.

[spwmoni]

Ubuntu's target market has a very different interpretation of "a bunch of footwork" than yours.

[jcitme]

sudo aptitude install kde-full shouldn't be "a bunch of footwork" by any standard by someone who passed high school.

[redthrowaway]

I'd hazard a guess that there's a not-insignificant number of Ubuntu users for whom opening the terminal is "a bunch of footwork".

I used to live with a 40-something woman who was fairly technologically impaired, the kind of person you would expect to get a MacBook Air and call it a day. She ran Mint. Now, granted, it was installed by our room mate who was (still is, I suppose) a CS grad student, but she got by just fine with Mint, LibreOffice, and Chrome. Never used anything else, and never had a need to go plunking around on the command line.

I suspect Susan is not alone among Linux users who just wanted a cheap computer that worked and had some nerd install a user-friendly distro for them.

[drinian]

I haven't tried this in a few years, but I recall that Kubuntu and Ubuntu desktops used to have serious issues co-existing on the same box for some reason.

Don't really care, now, as I'm on Lubuntu.