2016 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award Winners
 

The polls are closed and the results are in. We once again had some extremely close races and the large number of new categories this year certainly kept things interesting. Congratulations to each and every nominee. The official results:

If you have any questions or suggestions on how we can improve the MCA's next year, do let us know. Visit http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ce-awards-123/ to view the individual polls, which contain the complete results. Visit http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2016mca.php for a visual representation of each category on a single page.

--jeremy

VLC for both audio and video? understandable, but i had really hoped for more diversity...

and supertuxkart! yay, my vote! :D

edit:
yeehaaa, first reply!

If you want to win big at betting, ask me who to pick and pick the other guys. Not a single vote of mine was for a winner.

I bet the Slackware vote isn't even biased. ;)

The results as a whole, not just the winners, are really interesting to me. A few things have a lot of board presence here but don't seem to actually show up so much in the polls. Fun stuff.

A meta level comment: some of the connectors for the names to the pie chart pieces are quite smashed together.

Looks fairly ok the end results. Just not too sure about the virtual box but yeah, i suppose it is much easier to get going and it works on a great variety of platforms.

The result between Eclipse and Geany looks almost identical. What was the actual vote count for each? Was it within a few votes?

The full results are available in the thread for each poll.

--jeremy

Next year, we need to make sure Yggdrasil Plug & Play Linux wins. Now where's my Mitsumi ISA card?

Better put... this survey/vote needs a lot more participants.

Slackware beats Ubuntu?????

As time passes things get no better.

I've used VirtualBox for years. It is hands down the easiest to get started with, and it works very well. From a simplicity perspective, vmware is a bloody kludge. I've even used VirtualBox to run game servers, and it worked quite well for that.

I would not use it for mission critical purposes, as it can be crashed easily if you know how, but for day in and day out use, it works great.

SuperTuxKart omg yes! The older versions were better, though, can't say I really care for some of the more recent changes to the game.

It is SystemD free.

Amen brother! Yet another reason to use Slackware!

As is AntiX. :D

Yeah, I’d expected something like Rhythmbox or Nightengale. What I like about Nightengale is the huge number of plugins and the lyrics lookup feature. Not to mention, the “feathers”. I just wish I could figure out how to make it display the albums instead of the artists.

I simply cannot believe that all the KDE applications won over the GNOME/MATE/GTK equivalents. Like seriously, KDE has the worst third-party support ever (meaning, very few third-party applications integrate nicely into KDE, and KDE applications integrate very badly into other environments). I understand that people don't like GNOME anymore, but at least this year I feel that the MATE developers have done an amazing job keeping GNOME2 alive (with the switch to GTK3, I'm expecting things aren't going to be so good in the future).

Why not? As long as they keep the interface itself and functionality the same, the widget toolkit shouldn't make a difference.

I read an article, a while back about KDE's interface, and I had to agree. Many apps are horrible, they seem like they're thrown together. The interface design team shot be fired and replaced.

That said while I do use none of the above (OpenBox), as far as DEs go I am partial to GNOME 3, the GNOME apps seem a little better as far as consistency (though not perfect) compared to the KDE equivalents.

those polls are highly imbalanced and have only little real value.
it's the fanbois who cast the most votes. maybe kde just has the most fans.

for all i know xfce could be the most used DE, but all its users are sane and sober and can't be arsed to participate in a poll like this :D

Keep it up Slackware
 

Really happy to see Slackware recognized. I am a rather new user but I find Slackware very friendly and stable. I wish and hope they continue the tradition in years to come

I thinks a good desktop OS (regardless of SystemD being used or not) has to have the following:
- Device driver out of the box
- Quick learning curve - reason being a desktop user is interested in using the apps not learning the OS e.g. in ubuntu just plug in a modem, turn on wifi, connect ethernet, etc. and it will work straight away. Now for Slackware...introduce it to someone new to GNU/Linux and they will hate it forever.
- Application database - almost every desktop app for MacOS or Win32 is available on the Ubuntu Software Center.
There are many reasons why Ubuntu is the best desktop distro but many here won't get it.

It's not that we don't get it, it's just that our definition of a "good desktop OS" is not the same as yours. "Best" is what works for you, and Ubuntu does not work for everyone. Application availability is not an issue, as Slackware provides me, and everyone in my home and office using Linux, with everything we need (except games, and I turn to Steam for those). In the end I figured out the Slackware was, for me, the best desktop distro, AND the best gaming distro, AND the best server distro.

But this for me is academic - Ubuntu caved to the systemd hype, Slackware did not. That alone was enough for me to hunt and destroy any remaining Ubuntu boxes under my control.

Is Yggdrasil Plug & Play Linux full of drivers for hardware that’s 10+ years old?

So is MX-16.

I have to disagree with your point about almost every MacOS and Win32 app being available in the Software Center. You’re right if you mean open-source stuff specifically, but you’re wrong if you’re including closed-source stuff.

There’s a ton of closed-source aren’t on Linux. Here are some examples: Blizzard games, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office, Apple iMessage, iTunes, Sandvox, Pixelmator, SuperDuper, Carbon Copy Cloner, SmartConverter, Subler, Garmin Express, Razer Synapse(substitute available), Shazam, and TextWrangler.

Though, I realize most of the apps I just mentioned are only available on MacOS, since I’m still using MacOS as my primary OS. But what I like about Linux is that it’s like if you took the look of the Mac (depending on the DE you choose) and Terminal, and brought that over to the IBM Clones. It’s kind of like an open-source version of MacOS that you can run on any hardware much more easily due to having much better driver support. And since Linux is open-source and it doesn’t have a EULA which forbids its installation on non-Apple hardware (or hardware of its developing company), it can be legitimately run on any hardware if the drivers are there, and so companies will actually make Linux drivers for their hardware.

Also, due to the way drivers are packaged with the kernel, it’s easy to get hardware working with Linux, since the drivers are probably already in the kernel, so stuff often works out-of-the-box. A couple of great examples are Wi-Fi and sound. If you make a Hackintosh, you might actually have to make your own drivers by modifying Linux drivers with a program called MaciASL. But if you build a Linux PC, the drivers will probably already be in the kernel, and everything on your motherboard will work.

more like 20+.

Dang! That’s impressive! How do they keep the drivers working? I remember trying to get a ten-year-old GPU working in a 5-year-old PC running Ubuntu 16.04, but it didn’t work. I even compiled the source code from scratch, and that didn’t work. Do the maintainers of Yagdrasil ( I think I spelled that right) go through and fix the drivers so they’ll work in a modern OS? Or do they have some sort of compatibility layer or something?

i think you misunderstood something.
yggdrasil WAS the first live cd linux distro, and supports hardware from that era: 1992 - 1995.
it is nearly impossible to get it to boot on a current system.

Oh. I didn’t know that.

No wonder I haven’t heard much of it. Though, there are a at least a hundred different distributions

to avoid future embarassment:
https://distrowatch.com/
yggdrasil is not on the list.

Thanks.

TRIOS too, and bunch of others...
And fact that distro is not listed at DW doesn't mean much.
TRIOS is alive and kicking, and it probably will never be at DW, matter of principals.

This poll is as silly as it is embarrassing. The winner is a distro that ranks 29th on distrowatch and has a website with the most recent announcement 9 months old? Ridiculous. I think if anything this poll shows how desperately THIS website needs to build an audience, since it obviously lacks one.

It's a joke for us older guys that went over your head. I actually had one of those CDs.

Check the change logs,

http://www.slackware.com/changelog/

everybody knows, linuxquestions is where the slackware fanbois hang out.
they don't have their own forum...
(ducks and runs)

That is true. I started my Linux journey with Slackware back in the mid nineties. I just got a book to understand it, and found that a large percentage of the applications on that old system were ones that our development team put on our "Contrib" server - we had a lot of tools from the GNU project and others, so my move to a Linux system wasn't too difficult - I tend to read up anyway in advance.

I've been a proponent of simple, plug 'em in and use 'em systems so that anyone can use the freebies, but I don't necessarily recommend them to those who are used to (and prefer) building what they like, either from scratch or from their favorite toolshed.

My personal favorites tend to be Debian-based that I can run from a network installation, a USB stick, a CD, or DVD, depending on my location, purpose for the activity and whatever else. I still run Slackware from time to time, and I'll use some of those easy, plug 'em in systems so that I can evaluate them and/or help people configure them from time to time (but less often these days), I have more than enough to do with my ever decreasing amount of "Spare time" (whatever that may be.

It does disappoint me at times when squabbles break out about this system or that one. I'm not sure I'd even want the majority of people to do things or run things the way that I do. I don't want to be insulted if someone finds out that I use a particular computer or a particular system, and I certainly won't criticize another for their choices, but I do try to promote dialogues about interests and preferences, as long as everyone cherishes, rather than criticizes our diversities and differences. To me, it's our diversity and difference that I find so enjoyable, and the only part I do not care for is when we can't seem to have those kinds of discussions without upsetting one another, so I do hope that friend and foe alike can find a degree of interest and cooperation in discussions about what makes our systems and our interests different - and enjoy the friendly chat.

I like the attitude, masinick, I tend to use Debian Sid but I always mean to install Salckware again, get lots of tips from gentoo forums and, generally, enjoy that every problem solved here is solved for everyone -- nobody has to buy anything to solve it.

How about a new competition: Fav. softwares that are NOT a default install, or best new software, or best forgotten software.

The winning list looks too familiar.

I'm surprised the "Choice Awards" didn't ask about email clients.

I believe that is to "mix it up a little" -- not just ask the same questions year-on-year.

If you like spyware - stay with Ubuntu and its derivatives. You'll be right at home there coming from Windows or Mac.

I think you fail to understand the Linux philosophy.

Distrowatch rankings tend to be dominated by noobs or people trying things out looking for something better than what they have.

When you are already 100% satisfied there's no reason for continual visits anymore, and I speak as a 20+ year linux user that only moved to slack several months back, after using all manner of deb and rpm based distros (and yes - Gentoo as well). Oh and the BSD's - all of them!

Yes I agreed they didn't ask about email clients.

If they had asked, I would have voted for Thunderbird. I just wish that Thunderbird could do a better job of synchronizing contacts and calendars.

I take that your comments allude to Slackware Linux.

This poll is not exact but I'd say is neither of the things you accuse it. You would be very surprised of how much Slackware is used. It's pain-free, worry-free computing with simple, useable defaults and this wins over many people. They just don't prefer to make any fuss and don't pay attention to any rankings or distro sites.

As for the most recent announcement, in that very website there is the ChangeLog. If you read it, you'll see that the latest entry was this Monday, when nano was upgraded to 2.9.3 and Firefox to 58.0.1. This announcement is enough for Slackware users, which are the ones who read it.

I understand you might like other distributions. There's nothing wrong with that. But believe me, a large section of computer users are what I would call "tired power users": people who are fairly knowledgeable about their computers; they prefer to use them rather than tinker with them, but they would like to remain in control of their experience. These people are usually happy people and stay below the radar. From this demographic is that Slackware usually draws this users. We are a silent, but sizeable, minority.

Don't worry, though. Enjoy Linux in whatever distribution you like. This is what is important. Cheers!

IIRC there was a poll on it, but I don't see the results. I also don't see results for the Live Distribution. Maybe jeremy will post them later.

This thread concerns the *2016* awards. Voting for the 2017 awards is still under way (there is about a week to go) and the results, including those for the two categories you mention, will be forthcoming soon afterwards.

LOL, give more six digits then. hahah.

I would say 70% of my vote goes in.

As an advanced user of Linux I like this news!

very interesting post!