After a lengthy downtime this past weekend due to a server hard disk crash, we’re back up. I moved the server to a new machine this past week as well so we didn’t get time to install Fedora Core current for review either. Therefore, the next step in the experiment will happen on Wednesday when we go forward with Fedora Core current. Mrs.devnet will take a look at FC followed by Ubuntu current next week sometime. She’ll then pick the top two distros of all those reviewed. Then we will have <assume Charlton Heston-like booming voice> THE GREAT DISTRO DRAW DOWN!!!</assume>. Mrs.devent will crown the victor and we’ll have our winner of the “Best New User Linux Distro”
Why is this important? Mainly because it has never been done before. Usually, a linux USER with experience will review a distribution. In this case, someone who has zero Linux experience is reviewing these distros and they’re doing it according to criteria that a windows user would have and rating it according to what provides the best experience for them out of the box; mainly, thing such as checking email, web surfing, file sharing, and playing music. A high percentage of people out there only want a computer for that very reason and this experiment is designed to address those people (such as mrs.devnet 😛 ) and encourage them to try out Linux and making the choice for Windows-Like distro easier.
When the winner is crowned I will draw up a nifty award badge that can be displayed as a linkback to the article which will linkback to the developers main site. I’ll also do a follow up Q&A session with the developer of the winning distro. I’ll also ask the main developer if they will display the LinuxBlog badge on the main site somewhere. This way, the distro that wins may get the attention it deserves. Believe me, whichever distro wins this contest will have EARNED it. Instead of just being a review of some distro from a fanboi as 90% of the ‘reviews’ are out there, it will be an actual deserved win for a distro that is the best for someone trying to get out of the windows rut.
Since the experiment is unique, I’ll need your help to make it a success and give it the exposure it deserves. If your favorite distro is chosen, I’d like to ask you all to help me promote the review. This means posting link backs to it in every single forum or site you can find. Remember, this isn’t to drive traffic here (that’s what blogrolling is for) it is to draw attention to the winner! Linux needs a champion for Windows converts and whichever distro wins this experiment will be the one Linux Blog will stand behind. After the experiment concludes and you’d like to help out, just post a comment under the article and make sure to fill in the blank provided for your email. I’ll contact you with information on where I’ve submitted to so that we don’t have double submissions and then we can get started promoting the winner!
If anyone has any questions or comments, please drop them in the comments section of this post. I’m open to suggestions! Thanks for reading!
To point out one slight detail – the great linux showdown is a great idea, but Mrs. Devnet ceased to be someone with zero experience after a day or two with the first distro – and she no doubt gained more very relevant experience as she went through each new distro. Still I think it will be a pretty good indicator for people with no/limited experience as to the experience that they can expect with any given distro.
I am looking forward to the final results.
most likely she did…but she tried to place special effort on maintaining a fair rating scale. She wanted this to be an actual review just as much as I did.