distributions: UBUNTU vs DEBIAN

[Antony Gelberg]

Daniel Carrera wrote:
> Masatran (Deepak), R. wrote:
> 
>> Debian is command-line-focused and provides more control.
>> Ubuntu is GUI-focused and provides simplicity.
> 
> 
> Nit-pick: Ubuntu gives you all the freedom to use the command line and 
> have all the control you want.

And Gnome / KDE et al are easily installable and fully functional in 
Debian.  After install, a lot of ubuntu's perceived ease-of-use comes 
from those DEs.

> 
>> Debian is meant for experts.
>> Ubuntu is meant for non-experts.
> 
> 
> While I agree with the literal meaning of what you wrote, I feel 
> compelled to mention that many experts are likely to enjoy using Ubuntu. 
> Ubuntu does not limit the power available to an expert.

It does at a desktop level.  If I want an Ubuntu desktop without, say, 
Firefox or Openoffice.org, or any one of many packages that I don't 
want, I can't have it without removing the ubuntu-desktop package, which 
may break upgrades between releases.

> It allows the 
> use of some automated tools, but this is not required (contrast with 
> SuSE where you may hit problems if you don't use YAST for everything). 
> Ubuntu is just as friendly to manual manipulation as Debian is. It just 
> doesn't make it a requirement to the same extent that Debian does.
> 
>> Debian is more suited for servers.
>> Ubuntu is more suited for desktop systems.
> 
> 
> I should mention that this is mostly a corollary of your first point 
> (which I snipped) about Debian being more stable and Ubuntu being more 
> up-to-date.
> 
> Cheers,
> Daniel.