Oh you know, there's more GUI buttons to click, rather than having to edit those pesky text files. ;)

Fairly typical year 10 behaviour. It's annoying, I come here to get a break from work...

it seems that just injecting a little bit of negativity into Slackwares' blood stream really gets them white blood cells activated. :D

who really took control of the other peoples emotions?

There is a difference between comments on a negative experience, and gratuitous, unsupported, buzzword stuffed, broad-brushed, trolling rants.

I have re-read this thread thinking that maybe I had mischaracterized the post I responded to, we all do it at times. But I see nothing to change my initial reaction, yet. Perhaps that poster will reply with some clarification that stands on something other than trusting them and unsubstantiated aspersions to old, relic, stuck in the past, dwindling, dino, etc., etc.

As I said in my first post, please prove that to be wrong.

I support Slackware just do not use it anymore. But he is probably is off in a corner somewhere snickering. Don't let him get to you, it is an uneducated remark. Chances are he cannot grasp the Slackware way and clearly does not have any understanding of how to do anything in Slackware, or what Slackware is capable of so he decided to go an easier route and turn to more of a wininux distribution, or doesn't even have a full understanding of Linux all together even and is still using Windows 3.1. :D

Slackware is far from being out dated.

I don't want to wind this up, but my key feeling was that responding to the OP in that way after one post was off. If he/she had shown over a period, and with several posts, that they had an agenda, then possibly it could warrant more gusto in opposing their view. Possibly.

But consider the possibility that this person was in fact sincere, for whatever reason. A great introduction that must have been for them to Linux Questions, to a forum where we should be able to voice our opinions, *no matter our opinion*, preferably of course being able to back up and justify those opinions. :)

People should not be scared to express their views, and reactions like the one you had are not conducive to an environment in which people express themselves freely. If I were the OP, there is no way I would come back on here to try and justify my opinions after a response like that, and that's not good.

Just my opinion of course.

More ad-hominem attacks with no proof that the OP is any of these things.

Anyone would think we were living in Salem. ;)

I thought that the more pointed responses were to linuxquestionnaire, not to the OP?

Yes, my fault. By OP, I meant the guy to whom the responses had been directed, not the starter of the thread.

I thought those were appropriate responses to what the guy actually wrote.

Fair enough. :) I don't.

yeah that dude that dis'ed Slackware ,, don't make me have to go back and look ;)

the OP is that was "I use to use Slackware" and wondered if it was still around.

I didn't think I'd be laughing at anything on this thread, but you just gave me a good chuckle. Cheers. :)

Cheers :hattip:

we really need to update LQ with more Emoicons

I am sorry if my own comments were the source of unquiet in LQ land, as seems to be the case. I did not intend to spark the discussion which has followed. I also do not want to prolong it, so will offer these as my final thoughts in answer to the OPs question.

First, as I previously said, Slackware is alive and well, with a solid user base, rumors to the contrary notwithstanding! Whether it is the right Linux for your uses is another question entirely, and the one that you are really interested in, of course.

In my own well considered opinion, Slackware is now the only clear path forward for a Unix-like Linux, if that is important to you.

There are other Linuxes, and most still make use of the wonderful GNU applications, but in my opinion we are well into one of those important forks in the path from which we will rapidly diverge in different directions. This involves much more than choice of init system or GUI preference.

It is a choice between mutually exclusive philosophies with different objectives.

I think that much of the tension you may find in evidence, such as in this thread, is a result of not recognizing that we are on those different paths, but finding it increasingly uncomfortable to pretend that we are on the same path! Linux has always been about choice, but the choices now go much deeper than boot splash and desktop theme!

Slackware is, as it has always been, the torch-bearer for Unix-like Linux. As such, its path remains straight and true, thanks to the vision and dedication of Patrick Volkerding! For Slackware users that translates into stability, continuity, confidence, usability, security and reasonable immunity to disruptions from the outside.

To those on another path who cannot now see back beyond the fork in the other direction, it looks like the past, not on their forward path, something left behind. But all they can see is the fork itself, not the steady progress of Slackware itself beyond the fork.

That does not mean relic, old, abandoned - anything but! Slackware is a trail-blazer on its chosen path.

It does not mean one is better and the other is less so. It means that there are now important differences, of which Slackware represents an important variant, and that it is increasingly important for you to decide which variant is best for you.

For example, Apple is built on a BSD Unix, but Apple users for the most part are not aware of what that means and do not use Apple products for their "Unix-ness". They like the Apple applications built on top of it all. On the other hand, for those for whom Unix-ness is the desired end, Apple products are less useful because the Unix-ness itself is not really very accessible.

When Linus released Linux, together with the GNU applications, the value on offer was specifically a FREE-as-in-freedom Unix-like operating system for the PC. That was important stuff! Few people today even know what Unix-like means, and when comparing Linux distros are really comparing the applications assembled above the Unix-ness. When they look at Slackware they think, "How 90's is this?", but they no longer see the value on offer.

But for those who want access to the value of all that Unix-y goodness, Slackware is as valuable and as durable as diamonds and gold! Other distros are no longer of great interest to them, at least for the same purposes. It is no longer a choice of distro, but a choice of intended use which differentiates among distros.