On Thu, 01 Jun 2000, Riyad Kalla wrote:
> This is not a flame, but more of a request or a plead, however you watn to
> see it. I really want to use mandrake, but the issues noted above keep me
> from it. I really feel a longer devel cycle, EVEN if you are just sitting on
> the product and releasing betas, gives you an incredibly stable product just
> through the process of elimination. I kinda of equate the difference of what
> long cycle of betas can do to the Quake3 release cycle and the Ultima 9
> release cycle.
This can easily be taken too far. My first Linux distribution was Debian,
but their development cycle is so ridiculously long, Kernel 2.4 is likely
to be out before they finalize their first release based on something
newer than 2.0! When RedHat 5.1 came out using glibc 2, and Debian was
still messing about trying to get their next version out the door and
looking more and more like it was going to take forever, I jumped ship.
I was very happy with RedHat, but it wasn't too long after when Mandrake
came along, offering a RedHat-like distribution but with newer versions
of RedHat's packages, as well as additional stuff. For a while, Mandrake
releases occured roughly as often as RedHat ones, but they always included
newer versions. They were more up to date, more cutting edge.
Does that make them more unstable? Possibly. But not enough that I've
been bothered by it. The faster, more aggressive release cycle was exactly
why I went to Mandrake in the first place, and why I continue to prefer it
to any other distribution. If you're uncomfortable with it, perhaps you
should look to another distribution. No one distribution can satisfy
everyone -- it would be foolish for Mandrake to try. Thus, rather than
do as you suggest and try to be more like other distributions with their
slower, more conservative approach, I think Mandrake would be best served
by keeping up their fast, aggressive release cycle. I've always felt it
was the defining feature and real strength of this distribution. I don't
know how much longer I'd continue to use it if Mandrake became significantly
more conservative.
Even with RedHat's more conservative approach, they've always had to
release updates as they went along to fix bugs in the released product.
So, to my mind, I can't quite see the point of slowing down. I say full
speed ahead. There will be bugs, but that's what MandrakeUpdate is for,
right?
I'm with this ship as long as its the fastest ship on the sea. I know
bugs are inevitable no matter how slow we go, so I'm happy to tolerate a
few, perhaps even a few more than other distributions, as long as this
remains the fastest ship on the sea. Don't slow down, because if I see
a faster ship out there, and it doesn't appear to be sinking, I'll be
happy to jump off this ship. I've done it before, and I'll do it again
if Mandrake doesn't stay out front.
I don't see that as happening anytime soon though. Keep up the good
work, guys. Full speed ahead...
