In the vein of posting something that I found interesting... I'm going to assume people know about upstart and systemd, two new (next generation?) system init.. systems. Recently Mark Shuttleworth announced some things about the next version of Ubuntu, and quashed the "move to systemd" rumours. Not surprising, I guess (Ubuntu keeps trying to do things their own way...), but they'll be basically the only major distro still using it (besides ChromeOS, does that count as a distro?). Everyone else haven't made a move, or have switched to systemd. This is where it gets good (drama-wise). Shuttleworth started slagging "the competition" and heavily trying to sell upstart (IMHO) in his post: "Rumours and allegations of a move from Upstart to SystemD are unfounded: Upstart has a huge battery of tests, the competition has virtually none. Upstart knows everything it wants to be, the competition wants to be everything." http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1121 Of course, people wanted to hear what Lennart Poettering (creator of systemd) had to say. He posted: "I think this decision is not good for the Linux ecosystem. Ubuntu has now become an island that is growing more or more apart from any other bigger commercial Linux. Because they have not adopted systemd they will have to continue to develop and support infrastructure (such as ConsoleKit, independent udev) that is officially orphaned by its developers and maintainers. They are stuck with a half-obsolete stack that receives no new development. Of course, Canonical could step up and invest major work in the development of their platform, but that would definitely be a first for them, and I seriously doubt they have enough knowledgeable engineers for that. Canonical contributes barely anything to the Linux plumbing layer, much the same way they stay away from the kernel. There are now two options for them: a) stay stuck forever with a half-obsolete stack or b) invest a lot of work to develop their stack entirely on their own in order to stay competitive with us." https://plus.google.com/115547683951727699051/posts/X3fUhyJREKq Both authors posted more at the links above. This could be an interesting 'battle', and that's how they (or Shuttleworth, at least) is framing it. Ubuntu is easily one of the most popular distros for Desktop users, so it holds a lot of sway. If ChromeOS/Chromebooks explode, that will help expand the "upstart-using" market. However, Lennart makes some good points about an outdated software stack, and history shows Ubuntu's not real good at maintaining core software/giving back to the community. They're better at taking what's out there and putting little niceties on top for user interaction (although with Unity...). Either way, it's something cool to keep an eye on. (For those playing at home Lennart Poettering is the creator of pulseaudio, and has almost as fervent fans/haters as Shuttleworth and Ubuntu. He's also quite opinionated, and says things like "BSD isn't relevant anymore" (last year)). -Eric