Re: Debian getting better! (was Re: Senseless Bickering and Overpoliticization)
On Sun, Sep 05, 1999 at 12:17:42AM +0100, Helen McCall wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
> Hello,
>
> I wish to make some positive comments, which I hope will help.
>
I too would like to make some positive comments...
[snippage]
> I am a scientist, working in a broad range of disciplines. I first learnt
> to program computers in 1969. I have used a vast range of different
> computers and operating systems, and have programmed in well over thirty
> different languages.
While I don't have Helen's credentials, I have worked on a dozen different
platforms in about 20 languages since 1976. I have been using Debian
only since 1997 (bo), but have been using FSF software since 1992.
[more snippage]
> Debian is far and away the best operating system, and software suite, that
> I have used in thirty years. It has never once let me down through the
> last few years of intensive usage. I have found it easy to install, and
> very easy to configure for my own particular needs. The vast wealth of
> documentation has ensured this.
Same experience. Even though I track unstable, the glitches that
sometimes get through are less annoying than the sometimes more
feature-free code on other system. Besides, I often have alternatives
available that aren't even available on other systems. At least with
the source, I can fix it and get back in business and learn something
in the process.
> All of the thousands of people who have developed this software, and all
> of the Debian developers who have packaged and maintained it, have done so
> as unpaid volunteers in their own time, and at their own expense.
>
> The quality of your work is outstanding. All of you should be justly proud
> of your achievements in giving all this to the World. My thanks go out to
> all of you.
Absolutely outstanding! Most companies don't do as well for paid work.
You have my thanks as well ($ contributions, too).
> For all of you who have provided Debian, to quarrel now is mere folly.
> Please forget each other's angry words. All of you have earned the respect
> of a mass of users around the world. Insults are meaningless, and futile.
Although sometimes the arguments get heated, the results are what count,
and it seems that the sensible majority keeps things on the right track.
I only wish that such conclusions could be reached with less heated
arguments and hope that you can all take such comments when they occur
with "professional detachment" and not let things get personal. Save your
energy for the work that counts.
> Best wishes,
>
> Helen McCall
>
> E-Mail: helen@dinoflagellate.demon.co.uk
> Tel: 01752 342675
> Fax: 08700 525850
Besides using Debian at home and at work, I have become something of an
evangelist for Debian and have installed or helped others to install it
on 11 machines so far, counting my own, on both i386 and sparc platforms.
At least some of these would have been RedHat and at least some were
for people who hadn't considered Linux before I "enlightened" them.
So far, they all seem to be happy with the results. We're a bunch of
happy campers :-)!
Best wished from me as well and keep up the outstanding work,
Steve Bowman
--
Steve Bowman <sbowman@goodnet.com><bowmanc@acm.org>
Buckeye, AZ
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