[PLUG] Why RedHat?

[David Mandel]

On Fri, 22 Mar 2002, T.T.F. Creelan wrote:

> I was wondering why most, or at least many, of the people who write on
> this list use Red Hat. It seems like RH is considered the
> standard linux distribution in other circles as well....
>

I take a little different approach to distribution choice than
most people.  I don't think there is such a thing as one single "BEST"
distribution for every purpose.  Instead, there is the best distribution
to solve this problem and the best distribution to solve that problem,
but there is no overall best distribution.

In the closed source world, you start with a problem and then you
pick some big heavy tools that look useful - things like Windows XP
or AIX or Mac0S - and try to combine these with some heavy
applications like Office 2000 and AutoCad in such a way to solve
the problem.

In the OpenSource world, you should be able start with a problem and
look for a ready made distribution that solves your problem quickly and
easily with a minimum of trouble.

If you don't find a suitable distribution and your ambitious, you build
one by:

    -  generalizing the problem so your solution will be generally useful.

    -  looking for OpenSource tools on the internet or in various
       distributions which you can combine to solve the generalized
       problem in a fairly efficient manner.

    -  packaging, documenting, and publishing your solution so
       others can use it.

       (Yes, this is a lot of work; but this is the way of getting
       the best distribution for a certain problem.)

What I've been hoping to do with the Netule project <www.netule.org>
is to provide an organization to help people build and published
special purpose distributions of the this sort.

                                          Sincerely,
                                          David Mandel
                                          Chief Activist
                                          Portland Linux/Unix Group
                                          1440 NE 59th
                                          Portland, Oregon 97213
                                          (360) 260-2066 at work
                                          (541) 730-5285 cell

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   David Mandel, Product Manager       http://www.MicroSharp.com
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   David Mandel                        http://www.DavidMandel.com
   Portland Linux/Unix Group           http://pdxLinux.org
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