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[Rick Moen]

Quoting Declan Moriarty (declan.moriarty at ntlworld.ie):

> Debian - for purity.

I think you misspelled "clarity".  Debian doesn't in any way prevent you
from installing and using non-free software; it just keeps the
categories separate, so you're clear on which is which.  (Debian/SPI
have no funding to defend them against lawsuits, so they have to be
careful to avoid copyright infringement, e.g., on CD-ROM ISOs.)

But the leading argument for Debian is neither purity nor licence
clarity, but rather maintainability.  Please note amusing re-post,
at end.

> Red Hat - for docs.

I think you misspelled "FreeBSD".  ;->  The documentation on all Linux
distributions has big holes in it.  Partly I'm talking about missing
manpages on account of the GNU project's "info" fetish, but it doesn't
stop there.


The following bit of whimsy was posted by a friend of mine, who was
recently laid off from Red Hat Software, Inc.:



----- Forwarded message from "Bruce O. Benson" <benson at tux.org> -----

Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 03:07:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Bruce O. Benson" <benson at tux.org>
To: [a mailing list]
Subject: The new RH upgrade, was Re: Ocho

Even though I signed one of those restrictive separation agreements when
I was terminated at Red Hat, I just can't wait to talk about this new
product any longer...please keep this under your hat, do not fw, etc...

I have it from a well-known and trusted source that the upgrade for Red
Hat 7.2 will be available on or about May 1 (actually you can download
it now).  It will sport the following incredible features that are,
frankly, hard to believe could have all been included in a single
version change:

- Features 2.4 kernel, a coupla nifty journaling filesystems (you
  choose), USB, sound, pcmcia, IDE-RAID, XFree 4, KDE 2.2, yada yada
  yada right out of the box...Nice but so what...

- ...Runs on 10 different CPU arch families.  Kapow!

- Net installs and updates are now _free_ forever via a simplified http
  transfer mechanism.  None of your sensitive configuration data will be
  sent to any update server anymore and your machine will no longer be
  required to hold a key for the update service.  Salivation!

- This means you can get a missing utility off the net (usually by
  guessing the package name) with a single command from any machine you
  installed the OS to, not just the "entitled" ones, and use it 
  immediately.

- ISO images are orderable for sizes ranging from a mini-CD to DVD.
  Cool...put it in your shirt pocket or wallet!  Or answer the FUD
  question "what about apps?" with the thud factor of a few gigs 
  worth of apps on a stack of CDs.  "I got yer apps right here".

- There is even a sister iso from another organization (no more
  trademark issues!) that boots a live filesystem off of CD to 
  play with.

- System can now even be installed off the internet for free from a few
  boot floppies (if you've got fat bandwidth, honestly).  No excuse
  not to try now!

- Great installer.  You can really hit enter a few times and get the box
  on the air.  Uses the same ol' choices you're used to, like
  'workstation', 'file server', etc.

- Package management system will really work after the upgrade...no
  more missing deps.  You can even update running programs/daemons.
  Praise Tux!

- Future upgrades will work, too.

- Corporations and individuals will be able to set up and run their own
  net install servers inside their network to implement self-control
  and update of their machines according to admin's own needs. This
  will now also include prioritized "pinning" of versions of any
  packages for fine-grained version control and even rollback of
  package upgrades.  All this will be free of charge.  Shazam!

- Recently added....gcc 3.0!  Get some!

I've been running it for a couple of weeks now and it's fantastic.  Guys
at work think I have some slick theme running on a Win XP box...I just
smile and say "uh huh."  And they think I'm a genius when I get a laptop
up with 30 hacker tools installed in short time without hearing me cuss
about missing deps and misconfigure.  This thing is usable.  I'm hooked!

Due to anticipated demand, a number of worldwide mirrors have been
pre-established to handle the automated net installs/updates and
downloads.

You can get the preview release here...




http://www.debian.org/releases/woody/i386/install


PS - Go get 6 floppies and try 'bf2.4'.  The genie is out!

Enjoy,
Bruce.

----- End forwarded message  -----

-- 
Cheers,
Rick Moen                      "vi is my shepherd; I shall not font."
rick at linuxmafia.com                               -- Psalm 0.1 beta