[sf-lug] Fwd'd msg from Bobbie S, the controversial Wubuntu

[aaronco36]

Quoting Ronald Barnes <ron at ronaldbarnes.ca> from
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2025q1/016079.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> YYYY-MM-DD
> 2024-12-24 217
> 2024-12-22 237

That's quite a drop between the 22nd and the 24th, was there some list
cleanup or a mass unsub event?
That looks like 3 years of decline in a couple days:
> 2024-12-22 237
> ...
> 2021-09-19 257
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regardless of the cause of that recent and apparent "drop between the 22nd 
and the 24th" in the number of SF-LUG mailing-list subscribers, here are a 
pair of Linux-related items that could possibly pique readers' interest.

1. Quoting forwarded message from B. Sellers
<bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh here is a little news item intended by the writer to either provoke 
coding changes or paranoia.

Evilginx: Open-source man-in-the-middle attack framework By James 
Patterson December 25, 2024

Evilginx is an open-source man-in-the-middle attack framework designed to 
phish login credentials and session cookies, enabling attackers to bypass 
2FA safeguards. The author of Evilginx emphasizes that the project 
demonstrates the techniques skilled attackers may employ. The author 
asserts that it is the responsibility of defenders to consider such 
threats and develop strategies to protect users from these types of 
phishing attacks.
Read the article and if you are inclined to code then download the tool. 
<https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/12/23/evilginx-open-source-man-in-the-middle-attack-framework/>


Wishing you and all the Linux users a happy and healthy new year in 
[2025].

Bobbie Sellers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


2. Much Ado about Wubuntu.... Wahoo!

Another Microsoft Windows lookalike Linux distro apparently arrived a few 
years ago following in the footsteps of LindowsOS[01]/Linspire[02], 
ZorinOS[03], and other MS Windows OS lookalikes.  Surprisingly enough, the 
KDE Plasma-revamped and Ubuntu-based Wubuntu -- a.k.a., LinuxFX and even 
"WindowsFX" -- at the time of this writing is ranked among the top 50th 
most popular distros on a Hits-Per-Day weekly basis (unsure why?) on 
DistroWatch[04].
The current webpage of Wubuntu/LinuxFX by Brazilian distro-creator Rafael 
Rachid is entitled 'Wubuntu; Windows Theme under Ubuntu'[05]. 
Reminiscent of Linspire's charging a "Self Support" license of $29.99 USD 
or $39.99 USD as per [02], Rafael Rachid is requesting a "donation" of $35 
to receive a Wubuntu PRO Powertools Professional key which supposedly 
"activates several exclusive features on your operating system"[06]

Within a handful of years or so, there was a September 27th, 2020 
quasi-positive YouTube video by content-creator Chris Titus Technology on 
LinuxFX entitled 'Linux that Works and Looks like Windows'[07]. More 
recently than 2020, there have been decidedly _negative_ reports of 
LinuxFX including:
- 'Dumping Linuxfx customers - A Windows-like distro including the spyware 
and activation'[08]
- 'Linuxfx: Revenge of the Skids'[09]
- a reddit post by r/linux user 'fox_in_unix_socks' entitled 'PSA: 
Wubuntu/LinuxFX/WindowsFX'[10]


Over this last year 2024, here is a partly-comprehensive collection of 
predominantly negative reports of Wubuntu....
- February 27th, 2024 YouTube video by TechHut entitled 'this is NOT 
windows (it's even worse)'[11]
- February 29th, 2024 YouTube video by Michael MJD entitled 'Wubuntu - The 
Windows Themed Linux Distro You Shouldn't Use'[12]
- March 2nd, 2024 YouTube video by Action Retro of a Wubuntu install on an 
early 2011 Macbook Pro entitled 'Wubuntu, the Dubious Linux Windows'[13]
- December 5th, 2024 The Register article by Liam Proven entitled 
'Wubuntu: The lovechild of Windows and Linux nobody asked for'[14]
- December 17th, 2024 YouTube video by Mental Outlaw entitled 'Wubuntu - 
An Illegal Windows Like Distro'[15]
- December 24th, 2024 ZDNET article by Jack Wallen entitled 'Why I no 
longer recommend this Windows-like Linux distro'[16]

----

Further thoughts and/or opinions on whether or not Wubuntu's/LinuxFX's 
ongoing negative rapsheet is well-deserved?
And has anybody reading this actually _used_ Wubuntu/LinuxFX at all ??


-A


====================================================
REFERENCES
====================================================
[01]https://archiveos.org/lindows/
[02]https://www.linspirelinux.com/
[03]https://zorin.com/os/
[04]https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxfx
[05]https://wubuntu.org/
[06]https://wubuntu.org/professional-key/
[07]https://youtu.be/kPv9oRwV6io
[08]https://kernal.eu/posts/linuxfx/
[09]https://kernal.eu/posts/linuxfx-part-2/
[10]https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/15acjd6/psa_wubuntulinuxfxwindowsfx/
[11]https://youtu.be/h6G_PoNfgdI
[12]https://youtu.be/QQD3yx-JF2E
[13]https://youtu.be/5AegNsIsHcY
[14]https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/wubuntu/
[15]https://youtu.be/apZwCXy8E9U
[16]https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-i-no-longer-recommend-this-windows-like-linux-distro/
====================================================