IMHO, the two problems are one and the same. Both need
access to a wide variety of packages. Neither
necessarily know the exact name of the packages they
need, but they do know what those packages need to do.
To me, it is irrelevent that there'd be almost zero in
common between the two sets of users. If you look at
the functional level of what is involved, the
processes involved are identical.
As for how to get the programs, I believe that it
should be possible to get the software via an updated
"archie" client, via apt-get (or some other package
manager) or via the web and a search engine. In the
end, these are just front-ends to a single database,
so it doesn't matter how that data is presented. It
just matters that a type of user can get the
information in the format they would most likely find
useful.
Gentoo's "cream of the crop" only works if your needs
match those defined by the Gentoo team. Same with any
other distro, for that matter. What I'm after is a
distro that is sufficiently generic that some subset
of it will fit a given user, and that all users would
find such a subset, where the subsets are no worse
(and possibly a lot more complete) than those for
traditional distributions.
Let's take a programming class. The instructor wants
to use a language the class hasn't encountered before,
so that they learn the methods taught, rather than
relying on what they already know.
Traditional distros offer 2, maybe 3 languages. There
are closer to 40 or 50 languages which have free
compilers. The instructor would find the choice highly
desirable.
Granny wants a computer that can play card games and
can double-up as a telephone. I don't know of many
distros that include much in the way of telephony
software.
An amateur astronomer wants to get star maps. Tough
luck, as those take about 4 CDs and you won't get
those shipped with Linux. You have to buy various
collections from various people, if you want them on
CD, or download from 3-4 sites if you have a good
connection. Providing such data, in an easy-to-search
form would be heavenly to such a person.
All these special-interest groups are too small to
warrant a distro of their own, but they make up the
bulk of the population. Joe Average is in the
minority.
Now we've decided what we'd need, who's game? I'd love
to turn this idea into a reality...
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