ยท Grant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> > 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. > > Hey Mark, > > Thanks for the insight. I hope it never happens, but if the day comes > when Gentoo suffers a lack of contributors to such an extent that I > have to find a new distro, where will I go? Is Debian the only other > meta-distro out there?
No, Debian is no "meta-distro". It's a distribution just like Fedora Core or Mandriva. The only thing that sets Debian apart is, that it's a truely non-commercial distribution and that it is quite big. Another "Debian specialty" is, that it has a "mission", so to speak. > It's not exactly thriving is it? Is the > meta-distro concept perhaps flawed? No, I don't think so. It's just not something which is completely "main stream compatible". And I don't think that this is bad ;) > The thought of installing the > latest Ubuntu release, wading through a bunch of software I'll never > use, and waiting for the next big release before anything is updated > makes me wanna throw up. Yep. Alexander Skwar -- Your step will soil many countries. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
