What have we got currently? There are very few free distros that can be described as stable — Ubuntu certainly isn't one — Debian/Mepis, CentOS/Scientific, and Slackware/Salix. Debian has Xfce available and Salix has Xfce as the default. The question is then "What do these two lack that you could offer?". The answer might be a really nice installation program (e.g. the Mepis one) and a friendly package installer (e.g. the Ubuntu one). You might fill a niche there. It's the sort of thing I'd consider using.

I would like to see a distribution that throws caution to the wind and lets the community decide the future.

I'm tired of developer "visions" where that vision may not fit the wants/needs of the public in general. Ubuntu went the opposing way with Unity, SuSe likes MS for some reason, Slack lacks package management (this does not bother me but does some), many are bloated beyond belief and still hold a "vision" that is just insane.

We no longer have a truly public driven endeavor that can grab the mass market and fit into a broad range of uses that people truly want. Sure, you could do an LFS, an Arch install (as I'm on now), or a host of more "geeky" things.

Oh well, wishful thinking!

What a minefield that would be. What happens when certain parts of the community want a particular feature implemented and others don't? Who gets the deciding vote? Most 'alternative' distros are bourne out of frustration with either missing features, packages or ease of use in the main stream offerings.

This could easily be taken care of.

Imagine if you will a less geeky version of Linux that can be anything you want. Imagine anything you want being an install away (easily without having to know commands to get it).

Imagine a maintainer being able to supply packages for multiple types of the same base like:

Unstable
Testing
Rolling stable
stable snapshot (LTS)
Server

All versions supported! All versions getting security updates and bug fixes!

Features added based on what is voted by the community! Easy way to incorporate features the community can easily do without having to know how to program (building or whatnot).

This is not out there! Sure, one could use Debian but Testing is not supported. This distro could get it all right!

I just get tired of living someones dream. Why should I have to? Look at all the wonderful projects out there that get no recognition because they are very small. We could bring these projects to the masses.

Full choice! What this is all supposed to be about!

What do you define as less geeky? Is it appearance? Is it not having to use commandline at all? All *nuxes are basically the same, they may only differ in how some commands need to be issued or, how you navigate your way around. Some are wrapped up prettier than others. But under the hood, they are essentially the same. Personally I like that I can get my geek on when I want to or have simplicity when I want it. No need to imagine, that system is called *dows. Again I like the power of having commands that I can use to force if necessary packages to install/uninstall. For me it's not the ease of use or the hard to use aspect of GNU/Linux which appeals to me. It's the fact that I own it. I can do what I want with it. I can make it look the way I want it to look. I can make it behave the way I want it to behave. It is only limited by my own abilities. I don't feel like a mindless automaton when I use GNU/Linux.

Well you don't have to. There is nothing stopping you from realising your own dream and making it a reality.

Sure attracting new users is a good thing. If that means sacrificing the pleasure and power I get from using an open system, then I say let them continue to use *dows and be dictated to.

If such a system as you describe ever came into being of course I would embrace it, not because it would be simple(r) to use, but purely because of what it would be based upon.

We seem to be discussing useful features a new distro should have. Here's one.

A recent article on H-Online said this: So what's the feature? A guarantee that the newly installed Linux will boot on new UEFI computers, regardless of what shenanigans Microsoft makes OEMs incorporate into their systems.

Not really possible AFAIK-

http://archive.fosdem.org/2007/inter...nald+g+minnich

Torvalds take on EFI is interesting as well-

http://kerneltrap.org/node/6884

There a bit info info the link, its worth a look.

Ubuntu won the users it did by being easy to use and was following "standards" (said loosely) to remain close to Debian and other forms of Linux. Ubuntu has lost this by living one mans dream and now people are not happy (Unity).

Less geeky refers to having an excellent package manager front end that can let someone new to Linux install applications easy (like Ubuntu), yet keeping the ability for a more seasoned user to get "under the hood".

As far as me having my own dream realized, I do... I use Arch and have the setup that fits me. The problem is that Arch is not what most new users want. People in general are lazy and don't want to read or do research to make something work, they just expect it to work. Easy does not have to become "dumbed down".

Flexibility is the name of the game! If something can be developed that is easy, innovative (I have ideas), out of the way, without bloat and we would have a winner that would attract people like you and me and the new users and we could all coexist as a community of happy users.

Which brings me to wondering, why doesn't LQ have a distro to call its own?

The Linux distro community is fine the way it is. I would even go so far to say that it's perfect. It's what happens when people are free to do as they please-- a glimpse at human nature, if you will.

You have a number of "big" distributions with larger userbases like Fedora and openSUSE. These are what new users will probably be exposed to. From there, you have smaller distros that still have a lot of users who enjoy them, like PCLinuxOS or Arch. The next level is small, personal distro's that generally are shared among a small niche community.

There is nothing wrong with this. As a big distro hopper I can appreciate the freedom that Linux offers.

You missed the point....