100 Reasons why Debian is preferred over Ubuntu
Yes you can enter your own reason (as comment) to say why you prefer Debian over Ubuntu.
Please read this carefully before you comment:
Alright, the intention of this post is not to start a flame. Ubuntu has it’s own reasons to be liked and so does Debian. Also the idea is to get those *100* reasons from users who visit this blog and not necessarily my thoughts and views. Perhaps there might not be 100 reasons to prefer Debian over Ubuntu but I just want to see how far it can go. I know Ubuntu fans will have 1000 reasons to prefer Ubuntu over Debian and that’s fine.
So just leave a “sane” comment (your one reason) why you prefer Debian over Ubuntu and from time to time I will keep adding them to the post. Try to give reasons which are generic and does not take into consideration whether the system is used for Desktop purpose or Server purpose. As we all know that the general consensus is that Ubuntu is the best Desktop Linux and Debian is the best Server Linux. So let’s see how long does it take to get to 100 reasons. To get started I will add one reason..
The race begins:
Reason 100: Debian has the largest number of packages offered by any Linux distribution. – By Kushal
Reason 99: Debian changes less:
Debian’s upgrade system seems to be better and more suited for what I need in an operating system , as it doesn’t change as frequent as Ubuntu , this way I know its going to work and be stable if I upgrade to the next major release of Debian. -By Charliebrownau
Reason 98: Updating via Local Optical Media instead of Internet:
Debian comes on Multiple DVD’s that I can update local via burnt dvds instead of using Internet Quota and getting shaped. – By Charliebrownau
Reason 97: Ubuntu is too bloated and runs rather slowly on my pc. – By Nikhil
Reason 96: Debian way surpasses Ubuntu on the type of architecture that it will run on. that is why i prefer debian. – By Sleepy.
Reason 95: Debian is liberated – free as in freedom – from proprietary junk software. – By Peter
Reason 94: Debian strictly adheres to the open source philosophy and free from any kind of trademarks. That is why, I prefer to say, debian is a distro without any trademarks. – By Zahid
Reason 93: The debian can be used both for desktop, server & netbook. Ubuntu has different distro for different audience (desktop, server, netbook). – By Zahid
Reason 92: Debian has been built by the community. Ubuntu was heavily funded. Nothing beats a solid committed community. It’s been estimated that if you were to pay to build Debian 4.0 it would cost around 10 billion dollars. That’s quite a community. – By Dan
Reason 91: <add your own by commenting>

Free Email Subscription









February 17th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Reason’s I use Debian instead of Ubuntu
- Updating via Local Optical Media instead of Internet
Debian comes on Multiple DVD’s that I can update local via burnt dvds instead of using Internet Quota and getting shaped.
Also when I am at an Lan Party with NO Internet I can quicky grab the discs and update if needed without going ” ohh no , no internet Im stuff”
- I would rather use Plain Debian .deb’s then download programs that only work on Ubuntu as .deb . This way the one .deb file works on both Ubuntu and Plain debian and other distros that are deb based . (I keep a copy of all opensource , gpl and freeware deb/linux files on my file server to share to others that use Linux)
- Debian changes less – Debians upgrade system seems to be better and more suited for what I need in an operating system , as it doesnt change as frequent as Ubuntu , this way I know its going to work and be stable if I upgrade to the next major release of Debian
- Recently more ISP’s in Australia are proving free quota/free traffic Debian mirrors instead of Ubuntu mirror servers
Reply to this comment
Kushal Reply:
February 17th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Thanks.Your reasons are added. I only selected reasons which I think are relevant to the interest of this particular post. Nevertheless, people can see all your reasons in the comment section.:) Thank you.
Reply to this comment
February 25th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
i love mandriva for its ease of installation and my preference for kde
kubuntu is no match for mandriva’s kde.
ubuntu is too bloated and runs rather slowly on my pc.
Reply to this comment
Kushal Reply:
February 26th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Thanks Nikhil, for your comments.
Your reason has been added:
http://blogs.koolwal.net/2009/02/17/100-reasons-why-debian-is-preferred-over-ubuntu/
Reply to this comment
April 9th, 2009 at 11:25 am
i am a linux newbie. i have ubuntu box and a debian box on some donated hardware. ubuntu works great but i chose debian on the new hardware because of the architecture support. if i am going to invest anytime in learning something new, i want to make sure that i get the most out of it. debian way surpasses ubuntu on the type of architecture that it will run on. that is why i prefer debian. check it out here…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions#Architecture_support
Reply to this comment
Admin Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Thank you for your comment. It has now been posted here:
http://blogs.koolwal.net/2009/02/17/100-reasons-why-debian-is-preferred-over-ubuntu/comment-page-1/#comment-9072
Reply to this comment
April 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Debian is liberated – free as in freedom – from proprietary junk software
Reply to this comment
Admin Reply:
April 28th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Thank you Peter for your comment!
Your comment has been added!
Reply to this comment
June 11th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Looks like there may be a lack of ideas…personally I use both (for different purposes). Maybe what we need is “Which is best for what and why”?
Reply to this comment
Admin Reply:
June 12th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Joseph, I think you are right. I realized that some time back. I think I was over ambitious to for 100 Reasons. May be I should have stick with 10% of 100 = 10 reasons. Sounds like a reasonable ask.
Reply to this comment
June 18th, 2009 at 12:37 am
debian strictly adheres to the open source philosophy and free from any kind of trademarks. That is why, I prefer to say, debian is a distro without any trademarks.
The debian can be used both for desktop, server & netbook. Ubuntu has different distro for different audience(desktop, server, netbook).
Thanks for initiating this idea.
Reply to this comment
Admin Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Thanks Zahid!
Your comment has been added now.
Reply to this comment
July 9th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Debian has been built by the community. Ubuntu was heavily funded. Nothing beats a solid committed community. It’s been estimated that if you were to pay to build Debian 4.0 it would cost around 10 billion dollars. That’s quite a community.
Reply to this comment
December 30th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
i’m waiting for my new Eee pc. it has an atom 280, 1g ram, wifi and bluetooth, 250g hd, that other os #7, and i would love debian. now how do i get it! just waiting on amazon and you.
happy new year
Reply to this comment
January 25th, 2010 at 7:11 am
I’d have to disagree about installing via DVD rather than net – that’s as easy to do with Ubuntu as Debian.
My last 3 or 4 systems ran Ubuntu. The next will be back to Debian. “Debian changes slowly” is a two-edged sword. I left Debian when Sarge took almost forever to release, and Ubuntu came along at the right time, but Ubuntu has a “change-for-change’s sake” mentality, and KDE has been a disaster for almost two years. Also, I’m really tired of the policing on their user lists which, while supposedly intended to keep everything friendly, so as not to scare off newbies, results in a lack of community.
Reply to this comment
March 12th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Debian is much older and therefore more mature; it has more past experiences to learn from. At age six, Ubuntu isn’t mature at all compared to it’s rivals.
Reply to this comment