[vox] OT: Contemplating the unthinkable...

[vox@lists.lugod.org]

On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 01:03:41PM -0800, Robert G. Scofield wrote:
> 
> Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm not up on this stuff.  Does this mean 
> that someone who wants to run Linux on a desktop can no longer buy the Red 
> Hat distro?  If so, that's pretty amazing since a lot of us started out on 
> the Red Hat desktop.

Yes.  They will no longer retail Red Hat in stores, and although you can
get Fedora by mail-order, it's still not 'Red Hat', even though it's Red
Hat.  Names mean quite a bit to people, as do tangible objects.  People
like having a box, and a dead-tree manual.  It's reassuring.

> As some of you know, I'm a non-geek desktop user.  I wouldn't even have the 
> know how to install Debian, for example.  But after starting out on Red Hat, 
> then moving to Mandrake, I've recently installed SuSE 9.0.  I have never been 
> happier with Linux.  SuSE is clearly the classiest Linux company I've ever 
> dealt with.  In addition, the latest Kmail as well as the KDE CD burner are 
> just great.

Like I said, I almost ended up working for them, and I thought they were
a great outfit; the only reason I didn't take the job there was because
moving to Oakland wasn't high on my list of Fun Things To Do.  Good
thing, too, as they closed down that branch about nine months after
offering me a job.

I'd never use them, of course, but that's because I started using Debian
two years ago, and while they don't always have the
lastest-and-greatest as a part of the central distribution, the Debian
community offers up fantastic support, and apt-get is *way* better than
up2date, or any other network RPM manager that I've seen, and I like the
fact that a Debian install is supposed to be 'maintained' rather than
'upgraded' -- SuSE, RedHat, and the rest all act like Microsoft in the
sense that you are supposed to 'upgrade' when a new version is released,
whereas in Debian, an 'upgrade' is really more like regular maintenance,
even between releases.

Needless to say, I'm going to start offering greater-Sacramento-area
Linux contracting stuff (among other things) as of June next year
(shortly before I return to school full-time), and I plan on pusing
Debian for my customers; not just because it makes my life easier, but
because I know I'll be giving them a system which will be stable,
secure, and functional ten years down the road.

-- 
Don Werve <donw@examen.com> (Unix System Administrator)

Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue,
Orn desh, dee born desh, de umn bork! bork! bork!