There's one huge argument in favor of Ubuntu: world + dog uses it, stuff actually gets tested on it, documented for it, and generally should just work. Especially cutting edge stuff tends to come with instructions that are typically ubuntu centric. Lets be honest, if your stuff doesn't work on Ubuntu, it probably isn't anywhere near mainstream.
I share your annoyance with the notion that stuff only gets major updates once a year and that that typically means all the stuff you would care about is out of date. But then you can usually find solutions for just these things. IMHO, ubuntu is overly obsessed with sticking with obsolete stuff for the wrong reasons.
Arch linux is nice if you know what you are doing. By definition, that excludes any first time users.
I know many first time users that tried ubuntu, got annoyed with "linux" because of stuff not working (which os working on my Arch) and switching back to Windows/Mac.
Documentation is even better for Arch, the Arch Wiki is the best source of Linux knowledge I know of and the forum is very helpful very fast.
For me, that's the strongest point for Ubuntu (and any Ubuntu based distro): Ubuntu instructions for almost every software out there.
I'm not a web developer, I mostly work with embedded and backend stuff. Most tools I need have only instructions for Ubuntu, or packaged with Ubuntu in mind.
Even that, I've been using Arch in my work desktop for more than a year now, I had to fix some breaking updates (a big one, some minor ones with Virtual Box), I like having quick access to the latest version of (almost) everything, I love the Arch Linux wiki, I enjoy adapting to any Ubuntu installation guide. But I still have some fear that the next update may break my system, and that I'll need to use my time to recover it instead of getting stuff done.
I have two laptops, one not too old (4th gen Intel Core i5) and an older one (Core 2 duo). I run Xubuntu 16.04 on both of them, the oldest one with the 32 bit version, Arch just dropped 32 bit support last year. To be fair, that's something that will happen with most distros in the near future. I like that after the installation process, I have a complete usable system (desktop and basic software, and know that I can customize it if I want to).
So, I will always recommend Ubuntu (or any Ubuntu based distro) to a beginner, they will always have time to try any other one once they get more confident :).
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There's one huge argument in favor of Ubuntu: world + dog uses it, stuff actually gets tested on it, documented for it, and generally should just work. Especially cutting edge stuff tends to come with instructions that are typically ubuntu centric. Lets be honest, if your stuff doesn't work on Ubuntu, it probably isn't anywhere near mainstream.
I share your annoyance with the notion that stuff only gets major updates once a year and that that typically means all the stuff you would care about is out of date. But then you can usually find solutions for just these things. IMHO, ubuntu is overly obsessed with sticking with obsolete stuff for the wrong reasons.
Arch linux is nice if you know what you are doing. By definition, that excludes any first time users.
I know many first time users that tried ubuntu, got annoyed with "linux" because of stuff not working (which os working on my Arch) and switching back to Windows/Mac.
Documentation is even better for Arch, the Arch Wiki is the best source of Linux knowledge I know of and the forum is very helpful very fast.
For me, that's the strongest point for Ubuntu (and any Ubuntu based distro): Ubuntu instructions for almost every software out there.
I'm not a web developer, I mostly work with embedded and backend stuff. Most tools I need have only instructions for Ubuntu, or packaged with Ubuntu in mind.
Even that, I've been using Arch in my work desktop for more than a year now, I had to fix some breaking updates (a big one, some minor ones with Virtual Box), I like having quick access to the latest version of (almost) everything, I love the Arch Linux wiki, I enjoy adapting to any Ubuntu installation guide. But I still have some fear that the next update may break my system, and that I'll need to use my time to recover it instead of getting stuff done.
I have two laptops, one not too old (4th gen Intel Core i5) and an older one (Core 2 duo). I run Xubuntu 16.04 on both of them, the oldest one with the 32 bit version, Arch just dropped 32 bit support last year. To be fair, that's something that will happen with most distros in the near future. I like that after the installation process, I have a complete usable system (desktop and basic software, and know that I can customize it if I want to).
So, I will always recommend Ubuntu (or any Ubuntu based distro) to a beginner, they will always have time to try any other one once they get more confident :).