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Independence Linux: The user's revolt

We want Linux to become the dominant operating system. But this will not happen if Linux remains a system for an elite, it will not happen if Linux follows the steps of a system (Unix) who never made significant inroads in two vital areas: the desktop and the personal computer.

A distribution belonging to us, the users

Independence is not just one of these commercial distributions who have been appearing daily for the last months. It aims at being a distribution allowing the users to make hear their voice in distribution design. It is built by volunteers who no longer accept having an aristocracy of distribution designers providing solutions who have little relation to the problems faced by us, Linux users. It is built by people who don't accept that present distributions time and again neglect two areas who are vital for Linux future: the desktop and the personal computer.

Why do we revolt?

Eight years after Linux was created its distributions are still patterned like if the Linux users lived in a Unix world. But they aren't and this is slowing Linux progress.
In Unix you can ignore private users and small organizations: they quite simply can't afford it. You can ignore workstations because for most tasks Windows was so much cheaper that Unix was not a contender. You can assume the user has a system administrator who cares for the box and the sysadmin be able to read docs for weeks because only big organizations could afford Unix and that means there are other people doing real work while the sysadmin tunes his skills.

In Linux, or in any affordable system, you cannot ignore the small company, the private user or the workstation. However eight years after Linux was created distribution designers are still unaware of this basic fact. They are still shipping servers who are an overkill for small organizations, they are still giving a far better treatment to LAN users than to dial-up users and despite the availability of office suites they seem unable to think outside servers and include productivity software or the tools you will need if your Linux box is a client of an NT box. Eight years after Linux creation distribution designers haven't learned to think in software for private users as something as important as Apache or Samba or that you have to think in users who don't have a system administrator caring for them. After eight years our problems still haven't got minimal attention.

We at project Independence think that the Linux user is different from the Unix user, that Linux has potential to go where Unix never went and that means that we need Linux-specific solutions. We have waited and waited and waited for the day we would get a distribution designed with the Linux user in mind. We are tired of waiting. We think those users who are presently neglected while far less influential than those people who use Linux in traditional Unix roles are in fact far more important for Linux future. We think it is time for the Linux users taking charge. That is why we made Independence.

The Independence distribution

Independence is a free distribution designed by users for the users and particularly those who are left out by present distributions.

You can find more info about Indy in the distribution page. Independence is volunteer work, we will progress faster if you participate. If you believe that Linux users are different and need Linux solutions, if you believe that we, users of the front line, are in the best position to determine what is good for us, if you want Linux use spreading beyond its present niche and would like to ACT
Volunteer!

If you only want to keep yourself informed about Independence progress subscribe to the mail list by sending a mail to majordomo@seul.org with no subject or signature and subscribe independence-l in the body