In defence of Ubuntu against old school hackers.
I have been using Ubuntu since version 5.04 came out. And let me add, this is the damnest Linux distro out there today !! I was a Debian devotee but after 4 years of Ubuntu, now I am a born-again Ubuntu convert. I like it mainly due to its EXTREME ease of use. The Anti-ubuntu camp must be drawing its swords and lunging for my throat with the previous statement, I am sure. They believe that Ubuntu has betrayed the hacker community by making things a mere click away. They believe Ubuntu is bad for the hacker ethos, an ethos that encourages exploration and DIY(Do-It-Yourself).
While I fully subscribe to the hacker ethos, to them I would say only one thing: If hacking Linux is the ONLY thing you ever did then probably Ubuntu is not for you and you should stick to an old-school distro(like Slackware). Ubuntu might be really taking the joy of doing things ‘Yourself’ from you.
But what if I am NOT a Linux hacker? What if my interests are in some other field like Robotics or embedded systems? What if I like to hack on embedded stuff like 8-bit microprocessors and stuff? I still hack ON Linux, but I do not hack Linux itself. Linux becomes the platform for me, a means to achieve and end, and a FREE means at that too! Note the distinction I have drawn here: Hacking (something) ON Linux is different from Hacking Linux.
This is where Ubuntu scores over other distros: It does its job so smoothly that it allows me to focus on whatever I want and then quickly fades to the background never reminding that it even existed. That is what OSes are supposed to be, right? If I get as OS, then I should not spend more than half of my time rigging it with scripts and binaries and customizing it to work as I desire. Well, if I ENJOYED doing all that rigging and writing scripts then it is a different matter. But I do not. Truth be told, there are very few people who solely are focused on that. Linux users have a several reasons for using Linux: Some want the freedom of using Open Source, some don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars in buying closed source alternatives, some are mere users trying out a different look and feel and way to do things and some like me like to hack on 8-bit systems and embedded stuff. And some of course, are old school hackers who want to control every aspect of their Linux system. (Linux from scratch is an interesting alternative for such people.)
And the only way to serve such a diverse user base is when Linux becomes CONVENIENT to run. Why should an user of sdcc (the Small Device C compiler : a free and open source compiler for 8051 8-bit microcontroller) should bother with resolving dependencies manually when the same can be done seamlessly by the aptitude package manager?
On the other hand, if you ARE really a slackware type hacker who wants to customize and rig everything, then Ubuntu allows you to do that too, because deep down, it is still Linux and follows the same philosophy when it comes to running the system as a whole.
So you see, Ubuntu gives a win-win situation for everyone! And that is why I am big fan of it. It allows me to hack on my beloved AT89S52, or my favorite ATmega32 , or write GTK+ based applications. And at the same time it allows me to add my own customization tid-bits once in a while (hey, I AM a embedded hacker, but that does not mean I don’t try my hand at writing system administration scripts every now and then 
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To conclude: Install Ubuntu and do whatver you have always wanted to do. Go, chase your dreams!
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