> On Tuesday, August 08, 2006 6:43 PM -0500, Paul Johnson wrote: > >> I thought the niche Debian was trying to fill was rock solid >> stability and reliability in a 100% free software format. If I'm >> confused, let me know.
Add "support for multiple architectures" and I will agree with you 100% :-) Seth Goodman wrote: > > That's a reasonable goal, even a good goal, if you are willing to remain > a small, exclusive club. If you believe that people who use Debian need > to be comfortable with the command line, consider natural language as a > second language behind PERL and be fluent in regexp's, then it will > remain a terrific operating system for the few. Maybe this is what most > people in Debian want. I'm relatively new here, so if that's the case, > please educate me. Since you asked... :-) I think Paul gave a pretty good summary of Debian objectives (as I understand them anyway.) I can not speak about other people (never a good idea, by the way) but I use Debian because it is an operating system I can _trust_ and it is 100% free as in speech and beer (to me, the speech bit is actually more important.) It is also more powerful that Windows, easier to administer properly and does not tell me to "contact the network administrator" when there is a problem. Just for the record: no, I don't know any Perl (unfortunately) and yes, I think the command line is superior to GUIs for most administrative tasks. > We presently _require_ people who use Debian to do this, or they are > effectively hamstrung once it's installed. The software is free, if you > are willing to devote a significant portion of your waking hours to > learning the intricacies of an admittedly arcane system. It is a different operating system. You have to learn to do things differently. It is not a requirement, it is just how it is. If some things are similar, well that's a bonus. It certainly should not be an expectation that your current skill set will apply. Anyway, IMVHO, Windows is not easier to administer than Linux. It is easier to administer Windows _badly_. Good administration is still beyond the "average Windows user". Yes it is becoming easier, but at the expense of extra restrictions (and the fact that is something does actually go wrong, it is much, much harder to fix, even if you are well above the average skill level.) Hope this helps, -- George Borisov DXSolutions Ltd
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