On 14 Jun 2002, Sameer D. Sahasrabuddhe wrote:
I have been using Debian unstable on my machine for the more than a year now ... Are there other Debian users out there on the list??
There are many Debian users here at NCST(which infact out numbers Redhat users).
I need to come up with arguments to atleast try out Debian instead of RedHat. I use it for the sheer ease of upgrades and stability. But I need arguments strong enough to convince sysads and end-users alike to try it out, and to justify setting up a Debian mirror.
I haven't used RedHat much but still i will try to put some arguments as per my readings and experience with Debian.
-> Debian has largest number of developers in compare to other Linux distribution. So institute like IIT where learning and developing is the main aim, it should transfer from RedHat to Debian.
-> As u must be knowing Debian has three flavour Stable, Testing and Unstable. Its Unstable is pretty stable(I have been using it since 4 months now, not a single crash up to now). If u use Unstable, ur leaving at bleeding edge technology which is very much important for institute like IIT. It means, students are using s/w and seeing code which are currently under development.
-> It has Highest number of softwares available on Linux. Finding any new software and installing it is very very simple.
-> As u mentioned, It is very easy and comfortable to upgrade the system.
-> One report says, it has lowest bug fixing time cycle among all Linux flavor, once bug is reported or found out.
-> Well, Finally, Debian is the only flavour which follows GNU ethics by saying Linux at GNU/Linux not only Linux.
-Dharmesh