Popularity VS Usability

We see blog posts and articles everywhere. They proclaim that Distro X has the most users. Distro B has the most hits on a site that lists distros. Distro C is the top because Linus or some other "Geek God" prefers it.

They have this notion that being being the most popular somehow also makes them the best.

Gee, Windows is the dominant OS in the market. Well over 90% of desktops in the world are said to be running Windows.

That obviously and beyond a shadow of a doubt makes it the best. Right?

I don't think so.

It means that it's popular. That's it.

I am leery of "popular" Distros in Linux. Usually it leads to finding that the Distro is most known for catering to the lowest common denominator. Those in the middle of the road or slightly below in terms of OS/Distro familiarity.

There is a fine line between making something easy to use and something that is hobbled to be made easy.

For example, some people take the notion that because they think logging in as the "root" user is not a good idea, they should hobble or limit access to the root user so that 'new users' or perhaps anyone using their distro, cannot log in using the root account.

That crosses a line. There is making users aware of concerns that may be viable and letting them (users) choose for themselves how they will use Linux and the Distro developers telling users how they will access their Linux install.

Yet, for some reason, most of the Distros that are considered to be 'popular' and target that lowest common user group, inevitably inhibits the root account. After a user gains experience though, they may find, for what ever reason, they want or need to log in as root and in this great, "popular" Distro, they cannot or cannot easily.

That is just one example, and an extreme one at that. It does show the lengths to which these popular Distros will go to make their Distros "newbie" friendly and cater to a group that may outgrow the 'childproof' locks the Distro developers have put in place.

They sacrifice usability for popularity.

Now, not all of them, I am sure.

I am just waiting to find the ones that aren't. There are a lot of Distros out there, and quite a few "popular" ones.

When I find the "popular' ones that don't sacrifice usability for popularity , I promise to feature them prominently here.

Some come close. Some come very close, in that some do many things to inhibit usability and others only sacrifice a few.

PCLinuxOS comes to mind as very very close, as close as a Mandriva base can get to it anyway.

Linux Mint comes very very close as well, at least as close as a Distro based on Ubuntu can be.


I'm sure there are others. Just not coming to mind right now, but, I will go over as many Distros as I can, and mention all that are popular and at least even close to not sacrificing usability for popularity.