Michael Pobega wrote:
> Debian, on the other hand, only gets negative PR.
That's largely true. Every review I've read leaves the
impression that Debian is problematic, even though the
review mentions some (often many) good points.
> Outside of the Debian community nobody really gives Debian
> a chance.
So an interesting question is: How do people start using
it? ISTM there are three ways:
a) talking to Debian users,
b) having it installed on their system by someone
else, or
c) using a Debian-based system (Ubuntu, Linspire,
whatever), and at some point, finding it
unsatisfying, migrating to the original.
As a result, Debianistas leave for other distributions
less frequently than folks leave other distributions for
another (any other). So it seems Debian is, in engineering
terms, a GNU/Linux-user sink. They may bounce around other
distributions, but when they get to Debian, they stay here.
> [Reviewers] don't understand the idea of the Debian
> release schedule; It's aimed at servers, NOT home
> computers.
This one I disagree with. I've never heard a developer
say ``I'm building this for server admins.'' It's always
``I'm building the best damn' GNU/Linux system there is.'',
where ``best'' is defined as Free-est and most stable. This
just happens to result in the distribution most useful for
servers, but it's not built for them. I run it on my home
computers, and feel no bias against that use.
IANADBIUWAIWTDP* We shall release no Debian before its
time.
--
Best wishes,
Max Hyre
* ``I am not a dev, but I'll use "We" as in "We the Debian
people"'' :-)
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