On 28/01/12 22:37, imnotpc wrote:
On 01/28/2012 01:13 PM, Wolfgang Bornath wrote:
In https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1661 there's a
poll running which lists all kinds of important features of a
distribution. Unfortunately until today this poll has not received
enough attention to draw any reasonable and remarkable information
about the topic.
Hi All,
I'm new here (a couple months) but I registered on the forum so I
could vote. However I agree with Antoine in that there are quite a few
more than 3 of those choices that are "deal breakers". My reasons for
coming to Mageia weren't listed specifically, so I thought this might
be an appropriate time and place to tell you why I use Mageia.
I'm a longtime Linux user (Redhat 6.2 was my first boxed set, but I
tried a few before that). Over those years I've used a handful of
distros and demoed a dozen others. I started with Redhat, then SUSE,
Mandrake, openSUSE, Fedora, and now Mageia. That may sound like I'm
fickle or hard to please, but as someone who manages a number of
desktops and servers I assure you there were solid reasons for each
switch. I'm not going to go OT with all the gory details of each
change, but I can sum it up in a couple points that I hope are more
valuable to the community that my vote on the forum.
First, why I leave a distro: This is easy to describe but probably
hard to accomplish. Regressions. When something that worked in the
last release stops working in this one, that's a problem. If it's
trivial to fix, then it's a small issue. If it takes days to fix or
can't be fixed at all it's a deal breaker.
Second, why I chose a distro: This is also easy to describe, but much
harder to accomplish. It needs to install cleanly. Minor things like
changing a checkbox during installation are no big deal. A failed
install or a barebones desktop with no/poor configuration tools is a
big deal. Also, I don't use any unusual or poorly supported software,
so the software that I use must be in an official repo and easy to
install.
Third, my humble suggestion: If I were to describe a dev/release
policy that was sure to make me happy it would be this:
1) Zero regression policy - I know this isn't possible, but I think it
should be the highest priority.
2) If there will be a known regression or deprecated feature, it
should be announced one release prior to being effective. This would
give users time to adjust, find other software, or find another distro
if need be.
3) Stable. With Linux I consider this a given, but it needs to be
listed so that it doesn't get ignored.
4) Keep the community friendly and vibrant. I listed this as one of my
3 choices on the survey, not because it was a deal breaker, but
because I think it is the strongest feature of Mageia and it would be
truly unfortunate to lose it. This is the most respectful and friendly
online community I've come across and you should all be very proud of
what you've done in a short time. I wish my life were different and I
could contribute.
Well, 12 hours ago you did contribute! Thanks a lot for telling about
your experiences and giving your opinion :)
