[lug] Debian is better?

[David Morris]

On Sun, Dec 15, 2002 at 09:23:07PM -0700, jdavis wrote:
> On Mon, 2002-12-16 at 14:59, David Morris wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> I dont know why you keep bringing up least common denominator...
> or the idea that only uninformed people use support contracts.
> when it comes to any job "KISS" goes a long way. And if some guy
> on the phone can help me resolve my issues faster than me googling
> for it, im all over it. Now i do realise that some sys-admins
> never need any help...they know it all..never have a second
> thought about how there gonna feed there kids..well, im not one
> of them..I want support and alevel of expertiese that surpasses 
> my own...and a corporation of people to help me share the responsabilty.

First of all, don't take anything I wrote
personally...nothing I wrote *ever* implied a personal
attack on you.  Take a step back, a deep breath, and relax.
Now, I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail here,
but in short...

There are two design philosophies to anything (not just
computers):  Assume the user has little to no knowledge of
the item/subject, or assume the user has a lot of knowledge
of the item/subject.  When I refer to "least common
denominator" in my original reply, I simply refer to the
method of assuming little to no knowledge in the design of a
subject.

To the point that it is at all possible for Linux, Red-Hat
(and its child-distributions) take this approach.  On the
other hand, Debian *requires* a far greater degree of
knowledge of both Linux and computers in general.  Is either
correct?  No.  In a perfect world, this entire question
would be a mute point, but we have yet to acheive
perfection.  Now, I have my own reasons for beleiving
that for the *specific case* of Linux comparing
*specifically* Debian and Red-Hat, the Debian route is
better for *some* people.

> > also don't give a hairy-rat's-ass about simplicity, in
> > fact I think that is actually a bad idea...
> 
> uh...sure pal

As I said, I am not going into this now...go back and read
the original full sentance  I have my reasons for my
position, and if you want to discuss them send an email
off-list and I'll write a lengthy reply as time.  End of
discussion.

> FYI...my Redhat distro is far from default...so nothing low
> or common there..
>
> Also the only thing I give a rats about is getting the job done.
> and keeping my customers happy...and a nice desktop :)

Again, go back and read my original message...no statement
*anywhere* about you....though one item I did not
specifically state (foolish assumption that it would be
obvious) is that *anything* can modified, improved, or
whatnot, to the needs of the person using it.

Also, note my end conclusion in my email:  Neither
distribution is better, each has their *specific* place.

--David