[oclug] Gentoo and a little respect.

[Shad Young]

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 10:54:59 -0400 (EDT)
"Rod Giffin" <rod at giffinscientific.com> wrote:

> Bruce Harding said:
> > On 12 Jul 2003 08:18:50 -0400
> > Milan Budimirovic <milan.budimirovic at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> >> The problem I have with Gentoo is this: who are the users that this
> >> distro is intended for?
> >
> > I would guess that it is for those who think that using the
> > optimizing setting of gcc will allow for greater performance
> > increases. These increases must be see as an aggregate of the whole
> > system, not individual packages.
> >
> > or
> >
> > Gentoo is for anal retentive control freaks.
> >
> > or
> >
> > Those who believe that this distro allows them to be as close to the
> > bleeding edge as one can get with out falling off.
> 
> I like that.  The thing is, you can get awfully close to the bleeding
> edge with just about any other distribution too.  Take Mandrake for
> instance. You can use tried and tested binary RPM releases if you
> want, or you can download an alpha-source tarball, compilie and
> install from that if you want.  It's all a matter of preference.
> 
> I'm also of the mind that while further optimization for my system is
> possible, the performance gain by increasing the optimization would be
> somewhat less than removing all of the "crud" that people tend to
> insist on loading at boot time.
> 
> Interesting though, I've left only your middle choice:)
> 
> But then too, it's possible that for an intermediate user, Gentoo
> could give some greater understanding of what it takes to build a
> system, and appreciation of the decisions involved.  If that's the
> case, then I've already been through that way back in '94.  Installing
> Linux from 18 floppies downloaded with a 14.4Kbps modem wasn't exactly
> a picnic.  For that matter, an experienced user might want to switch
> to Gentoo because they miss the good ol'days, and Gentoo is somewhat
> like a grown up diskette install.
> 
> Naw.  You're right.  It's for anal retentive control freaks. :)
> 
> Rod.

Yah know, having followed this thread since the beginning, I am curios
about a propensity of members of this list to "judge" things with out
really having a complete understanding of what there judging. If you
don't use Gentoo on a regular basis, talking about it, judging it and
"guessing" what it may be about, is disrespectful to both its creators
and its users.

A trained salesman knows there is one sure way to loose credibility:
Talk about your competitors product. Why? Because as soon as you do you
demonstrate to the customer a lack of product knowledge that you are
trying to cover with bluster. A good sales man knows his product and
knows his products strengths. Thats all a good salesman talks about.

I put forth to all those users with a heavy bias: You chose your desktop
for your own reasons. Thats what Linux is about. Gentoo was created to
answer the needs of its creators and those who use it. Mandrake was
created to address the needs of its creators and Debian yet another set
of needs.

There is not one "real" or "superior" distro (sorry Debian folks, I know
you all love to pound your chest about your superiority). There is only
a collection of distributions of varying flavors designed to suit a
particular niche or need. They are all good and they are all bad, it
depends on your criteria.

PS:  (For those who don't know a Gentoo is a type of penguin)

-- 
Shad Young -- shad at ascendant.ca
When the going get weird, the weird turn pro. - H.S. Thompson
-------
Articles and writers needed: http://www.ascendant.ca click on "Articles"
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://tux.oclug.on.ca/pipermail/oclug/attachments/20030714/ed74c063/attachment.bin