Scott wrote:
Don't be sorry. Change doesn't happen if everyone stays silent. Everything changes, and it's possible that the Linux scene has changed over the past few years too. There was a time when platform stability was a much rarer beast and Debian Stable meant something head and shoulders above the rest. These days stability is becoming much more of a given, as other distros have increasingly got their act together, and the notion of Debian Stable is perhaps not as valuable and exclusive as it once was.[snip] What Debian (or SOMEBODY please) needs is a new "stable" release at least once a year with security updates, bugfixes AND *major* software package (i.e 1.5 to 2.0, 3.6-4.0) updates to that release as the next release is being simultaneously developed. Wait, there is one I can think of, but unfortunately they utilize this software called YUM and hand have a gazillion packages but Debian has a gazillion and a half. Don't get me wrong, I'm here because I felt etch/sid would be what I wanted. They are, except unlike the previously mentioned distro, I'm much more "on my own" when it comes to security updates. On the other hand, I've yet to be affected by "Joe Blow, Hobart, Tasmania, discovered a buffer overrun if you disable the flex capacitor in <insert name of program I never use, rarely use or never heard of> on rainy Thursdays" :-) So I get my latest and greatest and takes my chances. I'm just saying it doesn't have to be that way. And that's pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I'm sorry I brought it up.
I also run SuSE and have done for a few years now. It is normally every bit as stable as Debian Stable and security updates are often faster as well. The software on SuSE is generally a lot more recent. Of course, you can point out that SuSE lacks apt and so it is wipe and install again when a new version appears (although SUSE releases have been supported for two years after launch, and in some cases it is possible simply to upgrade). However, this is a different issue from stability per se.
I suspect that Debian probably will need to change its policy on releases and it's software tree generally if it wishes to remain relevent in the coming years. In the meantime, having tried all three releases, I have settled on Sid. It's for desktop use, and the Linux desktop is still rapidly improving in all sorts of ways. Cutting myself off from that by using Stable is not an attractive option for me. Some of the comments on here about folks "deserving everything they get" and so forth if they do not run Stable are highly unattractive and reinforce negative attitudes about Debian. Since I'd like to make Debian my OS from here on in, this pains me.
:) Fish