@Gemini,

Were you aware of the fact that Google’s upcoming ChromeOS (which has been relatively quiet in the news lately, but has been under development for at least a year now, and due for a release, if I remember right, some time around October, is, in fact, loosely based upon the Ubuntu distribution. Google heavily modifies it, sets up a kernel that boots rapidly and places you immediately into a Google Chrome Web browser within seconds. There are prototypes that have been available for some time, and for certain things, it may actually be a decent idea.

Again, I think that is the value of these numerous derivatives. Once entrepreneurs get wise to what they can easily do by remastering some of the best Linux distributions, I can very much foresee an ecosystem that has preconfigured appliances, heavily themed for a particular environment, fast, usable, easily recognizable because of their brand, and quite useful for specific tasks.

If these guys had been just a bit more creative, they could go to Disney, get permission to use their trademarked information and possibly partner with them, then sell a bunch of branded versions for various kid’s shows – I’ve mentioned a number of them earlier, not all Disney, but the point is that there could well be a market for netbooks in bright pink containing some girlie systems.

On that same theme, there probably is also a market for branded systems for perverts. Partnering with a billion dollar porno business could be lucrative, too, if making money is the only objective.

I won’t be going down either of those avenues myself; I prefer the classic, technically oriented systems, but these derivatives do at least awake the imagination, so let’s give due credit for that!

I wanted to wake up this thread, too, since we are getting some good traffic here with all the buntu conversations.

As reviews go, though, I don’t think much of this. Seriously, there were only three paragraphs that actually functioned as a “review” – the one where you bemoan, rightly, the lack of GIMP and OOffice, and the third- and second-last paras. The rest is just overdramatic ‘gosh how pink’. If you’re going to review the Hannah Monatana remaster (yep, not distro), review how well it’s been done, will it appeal to the target audience, etc. I *know* that 40-something men won’t like the pink, the music etc. Duh. But what does it offer a 12-y.o. girl? Can you select a range of Mily Cyrus music for the start-up? How well as the customisation been? In short, the product is a hannahmontanised kubuntu, how well does it function *as that*?

Otherwise, why bother writing this as a serious review?

The color is lilac.

Apparently the author and I differ enough in opinion that I felt compelled to respond. Not to mention the comments from some people about puking out their nose, etc.
I think the underlying question is “Why?”

It makes computing more approachable. Linux still has the reputation of requiring arcane knowledge in order to be able to use it. Linux has been making great strides in terms of ease of use for those of us whom studying computer systems is low to non-existent in terms of priorities. But it’s still not for everyone. Let the bakers bake better bread and the painters paint better pictures. Meanwhile, while we change the user base of Linux, we change the operating system itself. The back-end is very powerful, but the more end-users who choose to adopt it for everyday systems, the more Linux becomes a relevant system.
I myself have a daughter who is a Hannah Montana fan. There is a big difference between a (desktop, shirt, backpack) with her picture on it and one that was designed from the ground up and carries the name. It imparts an officiality to the item that is important to them at her age. For me, this specific distro is very much relevant, and I look forward to her using it. She is already familiar with 2 versions of windows, 2 distros of Linux, and 1 flavor of unix and uses them on a daily basis. Although she shows little interest in Computational Sciences, with the exception of BASIC programming, that kind of computer literacy can do nothing but good for her in the long run.

This remaster has 2 benefits to it, even with her in that environment:

# Because it is a LiveCD it is physically portable- she can take it anywhere with her.
# It is redistributable, meaning she can share it with her friends. This is not something she can do with a backpack or a shirt.

As for the comments on the security issues from the security professional, you seem to be a bit short-sighted in your own profession. You would be much better off monitoring from the network level than on a box-by-box scenario, labor-wise and effectiveness-wise. You just need to use the right tools. Then it doesn’t matter what distro they use, LiveCD or not.

Thank you to the author. I am downloading it right now.

This doesn’t look like a distro or a remaster. It looks like a plain old desktop theme. You can download themes all day long and not have to reinstall an OS to get Hannah.

Well, I am in the same boat as you, as far as Hannah Montana is involved. But what I see as a positive note is, that this is a Linux Distro which targets the younger generations, and I think that is a really good thing.
I am sure there will be other similar remasters to follow and hopefully this will boost the knowledge in the existence, and use of Linux for our younger generations.

This re-affirms my position that Google should just “remaster” an existing distribution into GoogleOS, rather than reinventing the wheel.

A Google theme on top of a major “desktop” like XFCE, KDE or GNOME, would be all they really need to do. Then put it on top of Debian Stable or something else dead-solid-reliable.

So what does anyone think of the chances of Google making LESS work for themselves? Naaaa, not a chance.

You should be glad little girls don’t read what you write and don’t write about what you likes

What certainly you don’t realize is that Kubuntu remaster or not is an interesting experiment; is not important if is not successful, the best thing is that people keeps searching ways to “sell” Linux

Actually a respin linux distribution is a GREAT idea for the younger teenage girls who have netbooks/laptops. I can see a real audiance for it. How many mothers and fathers gave there kids laptops. They are usually underpowered. Nix is a good solution. Give them a browser, skype, IM, open office, photo editor. Teens spend there life using modern tamagotchi’s.. like Txting, skype, IM, Facebook.

Hanna is a disney icon for young teen girls.

Smart Idea.

I think their could be a short term market for small netbooks with various cartoon or pre-teen themes – starting with this one. What about Jonas Brothers Linux, Terminator Linux, Star Wars Linux, Transformers Linux, Barbie Linux, ZoeyGirl Linux, etc? If that price point dips down in the $100-150 range this Christmas, I think it would be great to have some themed versions of netbooks or relatively low powered refurbished laptops that could be sold as potential presents for kids, and at least at Christmas, I think there could actually be a market for them!

WTF! Could someone shot me in the head, please? It’s just unfuckingbelievable… why the hell a developer would do such a disgusting thing?
I think he was losing his mind or something like that.

“I’d much rather have picture of some evil chick with satanic hooters on my desktop than a bastardized Hannah Montana picture of Tux any day.”
Who wouldn’t`?
and also I wouldn’t mind having the evil chick with satanic hooters anyway ^^,

Sorry to be the harbinger of doom but if there is going to be a review of a release that obviously targets young girls can there be some discussion of who created it and whether a decent security audit has been done. Does it phone home?, are any IM tools the standard package? etc etc.

It’s hard enough keeping track of what websites etc my daughter goes on when she uses the laptop I setup for her so there is no way I am going to install a random linux release with no history. Maybe I’m overprotective/cynical and my job is in security but reviews need to take that sort of thing into consideration if the target market is children. Also the author of the release should be mindful of parents concerns, the website for the release is incredibly lacking in info, do you really know what you’re installing for your kids then?