Who in their right mind would not?

RPM at all?

fedora is like someone giving you a birthday gift that is wrapped in horrid wrapping paper, and thinking "well ok, its just the paper", and when you finally get through the wrapping you see something you really dont want :/

mark another one up for slackware!

Not to further bash what you said, but I just have to beg to differ on the Slackware comment. I know you had a smiley behind what you said, so you might have been joking, but this is not a laughing matter! :)

I think Slackware looks ridiculous until you give it a try. In fact, brianL was one of the guys who convinced me to try it. You have to be in it to learn though, and if you're looking for a distro with shiny buttons and clutter, then count Slackware out. Otherwise, it might just be the best thing you ever do for your computer!

Applauding the diversity of choices!
 

I have been using a SimplyMEPIS offshoot quite a bit lately instead of SimplyMEPIS 7.0. That offshoot is the excellent AntiX M7.2. It is a blend of technologies from two of my favorite Debian-derived distributions, the very solid and stable SimplyMEPIS and the cutting edge, yet extremely usable sidux. I use AntiX when I just want to logon to my laptop rapidly, purge any incoming Bulk or Spam messages, first making sure that none of them are actually mislabeled legitimate messages. After I do that, I quickly scan my Inbox for any messages requiring a quick response, then I get out - all of which I can usually accomplish in under five minutes with AntiX.

I have been using sidux for most of my every day computing tasks and it has been doing an outstanding job. Debian Sid has been a bit unstable in its package management list, with a number of packages either containing incorrect version numbers or inaccurate lists of dependencies. sidux has done a great job of making the latest Debian Sid packages available without breaking the upgrade path. Nice!

Regarding recent Slackware comments, on one hand, it is clear that Slackware is best suited to those who are willing to carefully read documentation and plan their implementations. Slackware is very solid, mature software. It is not difficult to install or manage, but neither is it just "point and click". It requires some thought, and rewards those who exercise due diligence by providing a very solid and responsive system.

Slackware represents my entry point into Linux desktop software on the PC - back in 1995. The software today is refined, yet maintains most of the techniques used back then - not flashy, but well proven.

As far as Fedora 9, I believe it represents another environment - a platform for testing new, cutting edge technologies that, once stable, will become part of an enterprise class desktop and server base. I have found Fedora 9 to be usable, but it is not intended to be the classic stable base like Slackware or the easy stable desktop like SimplyMEPIS.

I believe we have to take each of these factors into account as each of us considers what kinds of systems to install for our own personal use. There are MANY different use cases and many reasons why an individual chooses one system or another. I've stated the reasons why I use the systems that I use. My reasons, more than likely, may apply to only a relatively small population. Remember, we have hundreds of different distributions because: 1) We have the FREEDOM so that we can (HURRAY!) and 2) We have numerous different ideas and interests (again HURRAY!)

I love the diversity that we collectively represent. There are many reasons to choose one system or another. Personally I have great respect for each and every reason, whether they make sense for me personally or not. This is precisely why there are so many different alternatives and I think it is AWESOME to have so many choices!

Slackware is nice, I have been installing it in and out since it came out, but the issue is that there is no "ready available" slackware alpha, slackware sparc, and so forth, I use fedora and suse for semplicity when I can, otherwise it becomes Debian and BSD ...

I doubt I'm going to see Slackware VAX any soon ...

I've used Slack before. It's a good, out-of-the-way distribution useful when you know what your doing.

If you'd like something Slack-ish that runs on other architectures, you might give Gentoo a spin.

Not so true :) well, not saying anything about clutter, but Slackware is no less shiny than anything else. It has always been possible to compile software for it yourself, but nowadays there are ready SlackBuilds available for things like Compiz-Fusion, which make it look more candy than your teeth can take.. The yummy-yum desktops are there (in addition to KDE it is possible to install Gnome too if one likes it better - not to mention the rest of the herd), and quite frankly everything that counts as "shiny".

At first I didn't get why a lot of people are saying Slackware looks ugly, it lacks the eyecandy or is "not for average desktop users"..but if you think of it, it starts to look like the reason is simply that people haven't tried it out. Second best reason would be that the current version doesn't come with Compiz-Fusion installed out-of-the-box, or something else irrelevant (if it's available as a SlackBuild, it's not any more difficult than installing a .deb file on Debian).

Not that Ubuntu is bad or anything, but Slackware is neither.

Ugly: probably not. Not for average users: probably. If only that it defaults to CLI, it requires the user to learn the system. It also doesn't (or didn't when I tried it) come pre-configured for HAL, nor does it auto-configure HW, or anything that makes a distribution easy-to-use.

Slackware 12 and up have HAL preconfigured, you just have to add your user to plugdev

I have used a lot of operating systems and they all have their good and bad sides; but, I am fascinated with linux from scratch and just setting something up just for me. I need to learn a lot more before I do it, but I think that's the way to go. Sometimes with Ubuntu, Fedora, and other distros you keep getting all these updates to the system and I wonder if you really need all of that. It is my ignorance that keeps me down. I started computing just three years ago and I am 58 years old. It's better late than never. I do have a deep respect for Slackware, Open and Free BSD, and Debian. I've used zenwalk and pcBSD, but I would like to know more. I don't want to be at the mercy of someone's upgrade and locked into a world of point and click. If I wanted that, I would have stayed with Windows and just paid for everything through my butt. I envy you younger people, who have the life and time to really learn something from this and create your own systems by using something like Linux from scratch.

I regard this point-of-view as inconsiderate, the same as I regard Internet-connected Windows machines without virus scanners and automatic updates enabled as inconsiderate. Too many times I have witnessed Internet worms spreading like wildfire -- worms which could have been stopped, had the appropriate security patches been applied to every affected computer. Too many times have I been personally responsible for cleaning up some of the mess left by these worms.

It is possible after the initial installation of Ubuntu, Debian, etc. to disable automatic updates for all but the security repos. Usually, though, nearly all updates contain additional functionality and bug fixes for installed applications. Unless you have subscribed to the experimental or testing / unstable repositories, the risk of an application breaking as the result of an upgrade is minimal.

Just because you aren't using Windows doesn't mean you don't have to worry about your computer becoming someone else's zombie toy if you don't take care of it.

I sincerely apologize for being so confrontational about this. I'm generally very empathetic and patient. But security holes allowed to remain exploitable, not through simple negligence but through sheer obstinacy, make me dread the mess I'm going to have to clean up because of them eventually.

You are, in no way, locked into a world of point and click. On Ubuntu and Fedora, anything available from the GUI is available from the CLI. Using your example of upgrades, you can easily do:
Comparing distributions to Windows is often considered offensive. Also, the ONLY way to upgrade Windows is from the GUI (either Internet Explorer or Automatic Updates).

It sounds like Gentoo would be a perfect match for you. Check it out.

Very happy to see that my distro made it close to the top:-)

Gratitude
 

I thank everyone kind enough to respond to my earlier post. I do understand that security updates are very important and I gladly accept those without question, but I often wonder about other upgrades for software that I don't use but is part of the distro. I was dreaming of a time that I could put together my own custom system using Linux from Scratch so I only have the stuff that I use in my computer. Of course the obvious disadvantage of that is I won't be getting any upgrades or patches at all. As you see, there is a up and downside to everything to some extent. I would never dream of leaving the open source world for Microsoft and Bill's Windows. There is no comparison. It's true that updates and patches are necessary and thank God for distros and the people that write them and maintain them. I may not be as radical as you think; but, I do appreciate all of you for taking the time to respond and care. Thank you once again. And I will give Gentoo a try.