[lug] Attempted hack from 202.185.243.121

[hirsch at zapmedia.com]

 > 
 > I have used both Debian and Redhat quite a bit, and I don't understand
 > why Redhat has so many more people using it.

I think it is two things.  Advertising and First Mover Syndrome.

RedHat advertises heavily (at least for a Linux dist) and has for
years.  Have you ever seen a Debian ad?  RedHat's name is much better
known.

First Mover: RedHat was the first distribution that made installation
relatively painless.  I tried Debian sometime around the same time as
RH 4.x and it was painful.  dselect was required for the install and
my recollection is that it was not as user friendly as it is today.
Since it has the most gawd-awful UI I've ever seen, that will tell you
what I thought of it then.  And when I use it now it is in a full
screen window on a large display.  Back then it was on a text mode
console.  Ick, ick, and ick.

In conjunction with the user friendly install, RH came out with
graphical admin tools miles ahead of the competition.  Debian still
wants you to edit config files, I think.

So basically RedHat was a far better dist for a newbie to install, and
they got their name out there.  Since most people coming to Linux were
newbies, what dist do you think they'd try?

Yeah, apt kicks ass.  Yes, Debian is rock solid.  But during Linux's
formative years it was not friendly to beginners.

--Michael