Marcus Johnson wrote: > > As a newbie to Linux and Debian I have to say I almost entirely agree > with George, and had even thought about writting something on this > subject myself. Before I understood about the numbering system it > really threw me for a loop to hear that my ISP was using Debian 1.1 > (he's very conservative), but that Red Hat was on 5.1 . I was like > "huh? is this all the same OS we're talking about here? Then my ISP > said "well the kernal is only stable at version 1.(something or > other - which was true at the time a few months back). And what that > did was to enlighten me that their might be some OTHER numbers > besides the distrib # that I should pay attention to. This is really > quite confusing to the newcomer, and a good comparison number > (perhaps the LSB?) would be very useful so that people can shop for > distributions intelligently. I don't think we need to erect any > artificial barriers to entry -- learning Linux is already challenging > enough. It would be great to be able to focus on just one number. > > My perception is that Linux is on the verge of an explosion. I can > use myself as an example. I am not the kind of guy who just likes to > fool with technical stuff for the hell of it -- like that amusing > exchange yesterday between a couple of guys commenting about how > Debian was getting too easy to use and that they had to break things > intentionally to make life exciting. ;-) Linux has been largely > founded on this kind of person so far. But now you are about to see > the next wave hit. I (and others like me) am the kind of > forward-looking person who when I see the usefulness of something, I > jump on it (but not until its use becomes appearent and accesible). I > am perpetually ahead of the main body and I am a natural evangelist. > I and people like me lead others who are of the main body into new > endevours (in this case Linux). You might not care for the unwashed > masses, but don't look now, but a very big wave of them is coming our > way. > > I know its been comfortable being part of a small, tightly-knit > community. Like it or not though, things are changing. I see the > challenge as this -- is the Debian community scalable? Can we > handle, accept, nay welcome the infusion of fresh ideas and > personalities into our community? Or do we shrink from the challenge > and run away and hide? If we aren't growing (in some sense of the > word, not necessarily numerically) then we are dying. The choice is > ours -- to live and grow or die.
Generally, I agree with you, but the 'live and grow or die' line is a bit drastic (hope you have your flameproof suit on - that line might attract a little heat (-: ). Debian will live on for as long as Linux lives, I think, but in what *capacity* is the question. The issue is whether Debian will remain a mainstream Linux dist with a wide user base, and thus influence in the Linux community, or whether it becomes a niche product (for servers only, for example), relegated to a permanent 2nd or 3rd rate status among dists. -- Ed -- Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null