On 7/3/07, Grant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
In December 2006 I started a thread titled "Is Gentoo Healthy?" in
which I was roundly put down for raising the possibility that the
decline in the number of Gentoo users could possibly affect the
remaining Gentoo users in a negative way.
Is everyone still toeing that line? The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter
hasn't been published in almost two months. Is Gentoo destined to be
just another distro starved for contributors and struggling to stay up
to date? If so, I really misjudged it. The meta approach of Gentoo
is superior to any other in my mind, and I think it's growth and
potential are being stunted by the "we don't need them" attitude which
perpetuates Gentoo's lack of usability features for beginners.
Gentoo needs as many users as possible to reach its potential. It's a
short-sighted mistake to think that non-contributing users do Gentoo
no good. Non-contributing users become contributors as time passes.
Car mechanics all start as car drivers.
- Grant
Hi Grant,
I think Gentoo is 'healthy', in the sense that it continues to
thrive. On the other hand I have, over the last 6-9 months started to
think of Gentoo as 'mature'. The distro has apparently become what it
is going to be. While that may not be all I hoped for it is clearly
worth while and a contributing member of the group of Linux distros so
that's great.
As a non-developer, general work-a-day Linux user I do feel that
Gentoo has lost some of its energy. Maybe that's all part of becoming
a mature distro. When I first started with Gentoo in (I think 2000)
this was a very lively place and it was clear that there was a real
push on to grow the tools, grow the distro, grow the user base. While
I think that today those metrics would still be considered valuable,
it is not my view that there is a lot of energy being put into taking
things to the next level. (Whatever the heck that might be!)
Anyway, I value Gentoo greatly. It's been a really great distro to
me. Folks have treated a non-IT Linux dummy like me with great respect
and for the most part a pretty gentle hand. I've learned a lot when I
wanted to. The documentation, in my mind, is second to none which
makes my life easier. (Sometimes....)
What's in Gentoo's future? I haven't a clue. I have wondered a few
times in the last year if I'd have to look for another distro one of
these days.....but I never have. Two to three years ago that thought
never entered my mind.
Cheers,
Mark
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