ZephyrQ wrote:
If you could not/did not use Debian (either Lenny, Squeeze, or Sid), which other distribution would you use and why?
Red Hat -- I learned Linux on Red Hat. It worked fine up through version 7.3. 8 had problems. 9 was worse. Red Hat went commercial and turned their back on enthusiasts. I switched to Debian.
SuSE -- I've tried SuSE a few times over the years. Administration is via GUI's. I prefer Bash, Vim, and RCS/CVS.
Ubuntu -- I tried Ubuntu for desktops and as an LTSP server in late 2009. Installation, LTSP, software RAID, and whole drive encryption were easy, but I ran into video driver problems with LTSP terminals (older p3 boxes with various outdated video cards). The Ubuntu features may have saved time if you didn't want to get under the hood, but added learning curve when you did. There seemed to be more updates and less stability than Debian.
FreeBSD -- the primary FOSS alternative to GNU/Linux. The BSD architecture is more stable than Linux and the documentation is solid. I ran BSD and Linux servers and DOS/ Windows desktops for years. In the end, Linux won because of GNU (Linux, DJGPP, and Cygwin), malware resistance, and cost.
Now all my machines are Debian GNU/Linux except for one laptop with Windows XP/Pro for specific applications.
My domain hosting service was Slackware, then Ubuntu, and now Debian. HTH, David