Re: "I do consider Ubuntu to be Debian" , Ian Murdock

[Mihira Fernando <mihiratheace@gmail.com>]

Roberto C. Sánchez wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2007 at 07:06:03PM -0400, Michael Pobega wrote:
>> In other words: Reviewers compare Debian stable against Ubuntu's beta
>> releases, which is an unfair comparison.
>>
> That sort of thing often makes me think that the reviewers have some
> sort of axe to grind against Debian.
> 
I believe its more because they dont (and probably didnt bother to)
understand the Stable/Testing/Unstable branches and what the terminology
means in the Debian Universe.

I was confused when I first came across Debian (came to Debian after
using Mepis) at the time when Sarge was the testing branch.
I was under the impression that (At that time), since Mepis was based on
Debian, then perhaps Debian proper will give me better options /
performance than Mepis. So I headed over to Debian and was pleased to
see it had over 10,000 packages available and also saw that has a Stable
version, an Unstable version and a Testing version.
Now I come from the Windows world where stable usually means a reboot
once every fortnight (At best) and Testing means Beta software while
Unstable would be Alpha software.
So I didnt want to try an "Unstable" or "Testing" version as my linux
knowledge is severely limited (at that time I didnt know what ls was)
and didnt have time to even try to trouble shoot what I thought was Beta
(Testing) or Alpha (Unstable) versions.
Hence I downloaded the Stable branch cd and was shocked and disappointed
to find out that I cant get it past the installer and went back to
Mepis. But I was "bitten by the bug" so to speak, and was wondering why
the heck I cant get Debian, the base system of Mepis (At that time), to
work while Mepis, the derived version, works without a hitch.
So whenever I got the time, I started reading about Debian (from the
Debian site and other sites) and began to understand what Debian was all
about and also realized that my understanding of Stable, Unstable and
Testing was flawed and that the words doesnt mean by installing them
I'll get a broken system as I would have in Windows (if I installed beta
or alpha software) and then gave Sarge a try and found out that it works
quite well even though Mepis had more up to date package versions.
So to sum it up, not understanding the terminology is one prime reason
why Debian is getting negative reviews.

-- 
Random Quotes From Megas XLR
Coop: You see? The mysteries of the Universe are revealed when you break
stuff.
Jamie: When in doubt, blow up a planet.
Kiva: It's an 80 foot robot, if we can't see it, absolutely it's not here.
Glorft Technician: Unnecessary use of force in capturing the Earthers
has been approved.