Re: Debian vs. SuSE 8.1
On Friday 18 October 2002 04:30 pm, Shyamal Prasad wrote:
> "geno" == geno <geno@pop.net> writes:
>
> geno> Other than price, what is the attraction of Debian over Red
> geno> Hat, SuSE or Mandrake?
>
> All of these are good distributions.
>
> What Debian offers over the others is multi-architecture support,
> excellent software package management, a very helpful community, and a
> superb system architecture that supports mission critical computing
> and easy administration (for those who know life beyond a mouse).
>
> The other three distributions provide more up-to-date software than
> Debian. I have not used them enough to know if they are much worse or
> better than Debian, but nothing matches Debian's "install once,
> upgrade forever" package management. I also think the other three are
> better suited to "click happy" users, while Debian is easy to use on a
> system with no X server installed.
>
> Debian also explicitly pushes the GNU philosophy with very little
> space for compromises, and IMHO does this without sacrificing any
> thing in the way of quality or usability.
>
>
along with the good points already made here, debian offers user access to
the developers and maintainers in a manner of openness that i don't know of
in any other productive organization of any kind. not only can one access
help on any aspect of the distribution, but anyone can become a contributor
to debian, based solely on the merit of their own ability.
try it. you'll like it. since you're already working on a toss-up between
suse and debian, i'm pretty sure that if you don't try it, you'll just keep
on wondering why all of us here are sure you that you should. try it, and
find the answer.
on the other hand, in the event that you're still not yet willing to trust
the various testimonies you'll see here, then go ahead and fork out the bucks
for suse; suffer their inadequate user support for a few months, and then
come back here. i did exactly that, before i settled on debian; and
eventually chalking up the $80 odd i'd laid out for suse to experience wasn't
painful, at all, especially after a few months of the comforting effect of
realizing that debian was not only still here, just getting even better in
the time it took me to get my head out where i'd stuck it, but that it is
actually even better than i had imagined the best could be.
even if you're life or your work forces you to dabble with lesser distros of
any flavor, what you'll learn here will make that an easier burden to bear.
ben
Reply to: