[lug] new distro

[Nate Duehr]

> Nate Duehr said:
>
> > You may have missed the "(GRIN)" or two that are always thrown in when
> > I'm poking a little fun at things -- they're meant to be rather obvious,
> > since I'm a sarcastic cuss sometimes.  Even ";-)" just doesn't get that
> > point across to some.
>
> Waving a <GRIN> over a statement may give you a pass with some people, but
> not with me.

Okay.  :-)  It's not meant to be a magic wand, it's meant to be a flag to
you about my state of mind when typing the message.

(Does that :-) count there?  Am I *allowed* to smile?  I have noted that in
my BLUG notebook -- yeah, right -- that I will receive no passes from Peter
anymore.  Hmmm.  Okay.  Whatever that means.  Does that mean I can't go down
the hall to the bathroom?  Uh oh.  Darn!)

(GRIN) is inserted when I'm really grinning... so (GRIN)...

> > I recommended (perhaps too sternly) that you involve yourself in their
> > open, public process and try to help as the only course of action that I
> > personally saw available to someone in your position who really wants a
> > change.  If you didn't want a change, I assumed, incorrectly, that you
> > wouldn't have posted the complaints?
>
> Again, why on Earth would I involve myself with a distro that I don't
> really like when there are ones out there that I do?

And I pose the question why on Earth would you try to tear their work down?
If you don't like it, move on and support "your" distro.  Tell us why it's
better.  Do a comparison review, and submit it to a magazine.  (LJ's got a
lot of issues to send me -- my subscription now runs out in 2008, I hear...
hope they make it that long!  Anyone else take advantage of their sale last
month on 100 issues for $100?  Cool stuff.)

> Again (again), I was just trying to splash a little cold water on the
> whole "Debian cures arthritis, rheumatism and migraines." thing.  It is a
> fine distro for certain things, but anyone who offers it as a panacea (and
> a lot of people do) is not being objective.

And my point was... why do you feel it *needs* cold water splashed on it?

I'd also point out here that this so-called "cold" water was only lukewarm
tap water because it wasn't even accurate...  Please note, you didn't
respond to any of the points made about the website having the answer to
your question three clicks in and no reference to the questions they used to
ask at all.

I definitely don't offer Debian up as any kind of panacea, ever... it's
Linux.  Linux sucks for a lot of things.  For some things, BSD variants are
better suited.  For others, a big commercial Unix.  For still others, even
SCO has a place (much as I hate to admit it... ick.)

Debian GNU/Linux (heh heh, have to throw the FSF a bone on that naming thing
once in a while...) fulfills my need for cheap home servers that are almost
always up, and rarely are damaged by any upgrade process.  I never claimed
more.

I'll discuss the warts and help explain (if I can) why they're there, and
help people through them... don't label everyone who says they LIKE Debian a
zealout.  If you like another distro more, speak of it's chewy chocolatey
gooey filled-with-nougat goodnes here on the list too... I'll keep munching
on the vanilla here, to use your analogy about taste.  And I'll keep saying
to new folks... "My bowl of Vanilla tastes GOOD!" when they're standing at
the counter undecided.

Don't run around the Ice Cream Social (LUG) hollering "Vanilla Sucks!"
without expecting an argument!  (GRIN... no really... GRIN... Happy...)

If you ever catch me on late-night AM radio selling Debian CD's as elixir
for hair loss, lack of sexual prowess/ability, or as part of a 15th home
mortgage deal, or as a new style adjustable bed, you'll know I've gone over
to the dark side where the spammers live.  Otherwise, there's very little
difference between distros, really.

Gentoo's "build everything" is the most interesting "idea" to come along in
distros (that actually got popular) in many years, and it's basically just
copied from BSD.  The work done there to make it actually work is highly
impressive, but not earth-shattering.  So what's really left for distros?
Who knows.

There are those who are watching the numbers who are still predicting the
demise of at least two to three of the major commercial distributions as
they run out of cash still, also.

That prediction's been made before, so I won't be staying awake wondering
about it, but it certainly is interesting to watch the show...

Nate, nate at natetech.com