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Unix.SE doesn't seem very popular, and there are many reasons for it.
But there is another thing that can be improved, and that's the name.

I believe that for many (especially young) people, "Unix" is something that is old and not used anymore. If you look at Ubuntu, they position it as an alternative to Windows, not as "better Unix".
And "Linux" is not general enough.

So, why not rename it to opensource.stackexchange.com, isn't Open Source what it's all about these days? That way, having separate site for Ubuntu will make even less sense.

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  • 6
    I agree with your view that "Unix" is (wrongly) perceived as Linux's old grandfather in some circles, but renaming it to Open Source? I don't understand.
    – Pekka
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 11:06
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    This question belongs to meta.unix.stackexchange.com
    – badp
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 11:07
  • I'm not going to join the downvote pile-on, but I think this is a bad idea.
    – Tangurena
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 19:21
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    @Tang, go ahead and join the downvote pile-on. Not because it's mean, but because "I think this is a bad idea" is exactly what a downvote means (here on Meta, at any rate).
    – Pops
    Commented Nov 8, 2010 at 13:46
  • @Popular There is too much bandwagon effect going on here, I'd rather not join in that way. I've had it done to me, and had my reply deleted before I could even get the "peer pressure" badge.
    – Tangurena
    Commented Nov 8, 2010 at 15:06
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a specific site on the Stack Exchange network and should have been asked on that site's Meta. It does not relate to Stack Overflow or the Stack Exchange network as a whole.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 19:15
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    At this point there's another site called Open Source, so this suggestion no longer makes sense.
    – Laurel
    Commented Apr 3, 2018 at 3:54

2 Answers 2

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Unix.SE is about unix and Linux (and perhaps POSIX, but that's not been determined yet). Most of the traffic is about Linux, which is unsurprising since it has the biggest market share (most Mac OS X users don't interact with the unix part). But non-free unices are equally on-topic (there have been questions on AIX, CoLinux (seems to be on-topic) (CoLinux is open source but can't be run without some closed-source software), Cygwin (same remark as CoLinux), HP-UX, OSX (they're not all about the open source BSD bits), Solaris (they're not all about OpenSolaris), non-free drivers on Linux, etc.).

Conversely, questions about a piece of software for Windows wouldn't be on-topic just because the software itself is open-source. Whether discussions of open-sourceness as relating to Unix/Linux is on-topic is not well-determined yet.

A site about open source software wouldn't make sense as a place to discuss technical issues, because there wouldn't be any unity of subject. It would make sense as a place to discuss project management, licensing, funding, marketing, etc. — and there is already a proposal for that.

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  • Ok, I guess then having bajillion sites for every little topic is the only way.
    – kolobos
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 20:58
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    @kolobos: No, on the contrary. Distinguishing between open-source and non-open-source software makes no sense for what is discussed on unix.SE (mainly using unix systems). Questions about software, open-source or not, are usually on-topic on SuperUser. I wouldn't mind unix.SE being merged into SU, in fact, if SU was more accepting of server and networking questions.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 21:04
  • For the time being, i'm going to ask all my Gentoo questions where all people are (askubuntu.com). Gentoo is a slightly modified Ubuntu, after all.
    – kolobos
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 21:25
  • @kolobos: No, Gentoo is not a modified Ubuntu (Gentoo is older than Ubuntu, in fact). It's a separate (and very different) Linux distribution.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 21:31
  • @Gilles: I know.
    – kolobos
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 21:35
  • Jokes aside, merging unix.SE into SuperUser would be the best solution.
    – kolobos
    Commented Nov 8, 2010 at 4:57
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Unix isn't open source.

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