TUX.RE/forum

Why Richard Stallman Does Not Recommend Ubuntu – and What Beginners Should Use Instead

Many newcomers wonder why Richard Stallman is critical of Ubuntu, even though Ubuntu has long been one of the most popular Linux distributions for beginners. The short answer is simple: Stallman judges distributions mainly by whether they respect the user's software freedom. That is exactly where his criticism of Ubuntu begins.

One of the best-known reasons was Ubuntu’s former Amazon and online search integration. Stallman described this as a kind of surveillance or “spyware” because local desktop searches were connected to online services. GNU notes that this feature has been disabled by default since Ubuntu 16.04, but still argues that Ubuntu continues to include or promote components and options that do not fully respect user freedom from the GNU Project’s point of view.

The broader issue is even more important. The GNU Project recommends only distributions that include exclusively free software and do not steer users toward nonfree software, nonfree drivers, or firmware blobs. Those principles are laid out in the GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines, and Ubuntu is not among the distributions GNU recommends.

That does not necessarily mean Ubuntu is technically bad or unusable. It simply means that Stallman and the GNU Project use a different standard. Their priority is not convenience first, but software freedom first. If you agree with that philosophy, then you should look at distributions that GNU considers fully free.


So what should a beginner use instead?

If you want something that is much closer to Stallman’s principles, Trisquel is one of the most obvious choices. It is a fully free GNU/Linux distribution, and Trisquel 12.0 was released in April 2026. For users who care deeply about software freedom, it is one of the most practical starting points. The downside is that some hardware may work less smoothly if it depends on nonfree firmware.

Another strict freedom-focused option is Guix System. GNU Guix describes itself as an advanced distribution of the GNU system that respects user freedom. However, for complete beginners, Guix is usually better suited to people who are curious, technical, and willing to learn something less conventional.

If you are thinking more practically than ideologically, many new users will have an easier time with Linux Mint or Debian with Cinnamon. Linux Mint presents itself as free of cost, open source, and based on Debian and Ubuntu, and it is widely regarded as friendly for people moving from Windows. Debian highlights its stability and smooth upgrade process, and its installer tooling supports desktops such as Cinnamon directly.

So the practical recommendation looks like this:

If software freedom matters most to you, start with Trisquel.

If you want the easiest transition as a beginner, start with Linux Mint.
If you want a stable, classic system and do not mind learning a bit more, choose Debian with Cinnamon.

Ubuntu Spyware: What to Do? on GNU.org

Richard Stallman Talks About Ubuntu on YouTube 6min.

Richard Stallman is one of the most important figures in the history of free software. He is an American programmer, activist, and founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation (FSF). He became well known because he strongly argued that computer users should have the freedom to run, study, modify, and share software.

In the 1980s, Stallman started the GNU Project to create a complete free Unix-like operating system. At a time when more software was becoming proprietary, he believed that users were losing control over the programs they depended on. His work was not only technical, but also philosophical and political, because he saw software freedom as a matter of user rights.

Stallman also played a key role in creating the idea of copyleft and the GNU General Public License (GPL), which became one of the most influential free software licenses in the world. Many important free software projects were shaped by these ideas.

Whether people agree with all of his views or not, Richard Stallman had a huge impact on the development of modern computing. Without his work on GNU, free software, and licensing, the Linux and open-source world would likely look very different today.

Link: http://stallman.org

Ubuntu was created in 2004 with the goal of making Linux easier to use, easier to install, and more attractive for normal desktop users. According to Ubuntu’s official history, Mark Shuttleworth gathered a small team of Debian developers, founded Canonical, and launched Ubuntu as an easy-to-use Linux desktop built on Debian foundations.

The central person behind Ubuntu is Mark Shuttleworth. He is a South African-born entrepreneur who founded Canonical and is still the figure most closely associated with Ubuntu. Wikipedia and Ubuntu’s own project pages both describe him as the founder behind Ubuntu and Canonical.

The company behind Ubuntu is Canonical Ltd. Canonical was created to develop, support, and promote Ubuntu and related open-source technologies. Ubuntu is not just a company product, though: it is also developed with a wider community of contributors under an open governance model. At the same time, Canonical has always had major influence over direction, packaging, releases, and commercial strategy.

Ubuntu itself is closely tied to Debian. It did not start from zero. Instead, it was built on Debian packages, tools, and development practices, but with a stronger focus on regular releases, user-friendliness, and broader desktop adoption. That combination is one big reason why Ubuntu became one of the most famous Linux distributions in the world.

The first Ubuntu release was Ubuntu 4.10, released in October 2004. The name “Ubuntu” was chosen both because of Shuttleworth’s South African roots and because it reflects a philosophy of community and human connection.

But Ubuntu has also faced criticism over the years. Wikipedia and long-running community discussions often mention that some users dislike how much influence Canonical has over Ubuntu’s direction. Critics argue that Ubuntu presents itself as a community project, but major decisions often remain strongly shaped by Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth.

One of the best-known controversies was the Amazon search integration in Ubuntu 12.10. That feature sent search queries from the desktop Dash to outside services, including Amazon-related results. Privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticized this strongly because users’ searches were sent out by default rather than through a clear opt-in model. This remains one of the most famous Ubuntu privacy controversies.

Another frequent criticism concerns Snap packages and Canonical’s push toward the Snap ecosystem. Canonical presents snaps as self-contained, sandboxed, cross-platform packages and highlights security and dependency advantages. However, critics argue that snaps can be slower to start, feel less integrated than traditional packages, and give Canonical too much control because the Snap Store plays a central role in the ecosystem.

There have also been security concerns around the Snap ecosystem. For example, researchers and later reporting described cases where malicious or deceptive snaps appeared in the Snap Store, which reinforced criticism from people who already distrusted Canonical’s packaging direction. That does not mean snaps are inherently bad, but it does explain why some Linux users remain skeptical.

Ubuntu has additionally been criticized at times for pushing its own technologies too aggressively, historically including projects such as Unity, Mir, and Snap, instead of aligning more closely with broader Linux ecosystem standards. Supporters see this as innovation and independence; critics see it as fragmentation. This is one reason Ubuntu has always had both very loyal supporters and very vocal opponents. This last point is partly an inference from the documented pattern of recurring controversy around Canonical-led technologies.

Even with all that criticism, Ubuntu remains hugely important. It helped bring Linux to many desktop users, developers, server admins, and cloud environments. For many people, Ubuntu was their first real Linux system. So the overall picture is mixed: Ubuntu is influential, practical, and historically important, but it has also been controversial because of privacy decisions, Canonical’s control, and technical choices that divided the community.