Just my humble 2 cents.

I found hilarious the following facts being put together:

1. The author of the article says "a bit like something you’d have used in the early 2000s"
2. http://www.absolutelinux.org/ states (emphasis mine) "Absolute is a 64-bit Linux distribution based upon Slackware."

From this perspective Absolute is an Arch wannabe rather than a Slackware wannabe, since Slackware didn't dump 32bit, not even for the next stable release. My 15+ years old laptop is buzzing with excitement about the incoming update.

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I don't think that is a fair characterisation. Judging from its website it looks like its main selling point is that pointy-clicky control panel thing they've written. I didn't get any sort of 'Arch" feel from it, and I can see how it might appeal to some folk.

Besides, they're not the only distro/organisation to drop 32-bit x86 at this point, and if you're development resource constrained it is probably an easy decision at this point.

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@cwizardone, Thanks for posting. At first I thought this was a new one, but I see I bookmarked the site, back in 2013 and I see DistroWatch has it back to 2009. I thought the article was a bit cheesy in places, but sort of expected by a non Slackware user. I did find it to be an overall positive article.

After reading the sites about page, I wish him luck in this Slackware based adventure. I'm downloading the latest beta to give it a whirl in VirtualBox.

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I read it, good for Jack Wallen, he has been around since forever. And good on Absolute Linux, I didn't know it was made from Slackware.

Long live "the olden days" code that still works fine. Sometimes the latest is not the greatest. Thank you.

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Some more information: Interview of Paul Sherman (January 2009) , Repository @ slackware.uk , Repository@sf.net (with old versions), About Absolute Linux. As an aside, slackware.uk hosts many other projects Slackware related, like packages and source archives repositories and Slackware derivatives including Slint, huge thanks to Darren Austin.

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As a few people already have pointed out, AbsoluteLinux has been around for ten years or so som the journalist(?) behind the article apparently didn't bother about digging deep. I ran it myself for a few years on an old Dell Inspiron laptop. It was lightweight enough not to create havoc when booting (due to the lousy graphics driver on that particular machine). Stable and reliable, although the default IceWM was not the most user-friendly window manager IMHO.
Since it's a one-man project I can understand that the manager, Paul Sherman, can't keep both a 32 bit and a 64 bit version up to date.

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I'm tired of people dismissing Slackware as "old". Here's a fact: Ubuntu 18.04 fails to install/has showstopper bugs on 3 different computers of mine! I don't have time for "modern" - I'll take "it just works" over "modern" any day of the week.

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I don't consider being label as old a dismissal. Many things get better with age.

Fact: It is old. Not as old as me though. It's oldest active Linux distribution, coming up on it's Silver Anniversary this year. Praise Bob, hand me a beer and watch this... <grin>

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I know that's right! I myself have tried various other Linux distros, and have found them wanting in one way or another. Slackware is my "go-to" distro, now and for as long as it's being maintained!

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BTW: The Earth is old, yet it holds high technology, and will be there while we'll be all dead....

Old means nothing about "capabilities". Coca Cola is an old trademark, yet we drink "freshly made" soda.

Mercedes, GM, Renault, are old trademarks... But they sells latest models don't they ?

Not talking about Apple and Microsoft which are real dinosaurs in mainstream computing...

And yes, in Bordeaux, we believe old wine is better than newer. "Old" is not a valid argument, without specifying what is old compared to what.

In the case of Slackware, old means more experience, which is, in my book, not a problem .

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I've always loved this bit about age from Richard Pryor as "Mudbone" or possibly "The Wino"... can't recall whom... must need to break that old LP out again

Yes I suppose Slackware is actually old but it doesn't look or act like it. It's just displays wisdom that can only come with years.

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ROTFLMAO !! I completely forgot about this one. Still funny after all these years!

Oh, yeah. Slackware FTW!