From: stryder@telenet.be.invalid   
      
   On Wednesday 23 May 2012 00:41, Adam conveyed the following to   
   alt.os.linux.mandriva...   
      
   > Aragorn wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Tuesday 22 May 2012 19:38, Adam conveyed the following to   
   >> alt.os.linux.mandriva...   
   >   
   >>> I don't mind newbies when their questions are relevant -- after all,   
   >>> I was a newbie once, and so was everybody else in both groups.  What   
   >>> I look for more is S/N ratio.   
   >>   
   >> Well, that's sort of where the problem lies.  In my experience - and   
   >> I'm sure many others here can vouch for that as well - the latest   
   >> batch of GNUbies are rather ardent Windows refugees, who are only in   
   >> refugee status because of the insecurities or TCO of Windows, but not   
   >> because of Windows itself as an operating system design.  And so   
   >> they're typically also bordering "trollism", constantly complaining   
   >> about how GNU/Linux isn't exactly like Windows.   
   >   
   > Okay, I can see where that would be annoying and lower the S/N   
   > ratio... but I'm not sure which newsgroups you're referring to.   
      
   Uhm, certain over-hyped Debian derivatives... :p   
      
   > I gather you /aren't/ referring to aol.mandriva and aol.mageia... I   
   > hope.   
      
   Nope, those are unaffected by the phenomenon.  About ten years ago, we   
   still regularly saw Win-trolls over here - well, in a.o.l.mandrake, to   
   be precise - but those were easily chased away at the time because this   
   is a relatively strong community and people would soon killfile the   
   trolls.   
      
   These days, Mageia and Mandriva are not "top of the bill" distros in   
   terms of popularity.  Mageia is still too new and lesser known to the   
   wide public, and Mandriva has already long lost its high ranking in the   
   popularity polls, which may in part be because of the namechange, but   
   I'm just guessing on that part.   
      
   The buzzword these days still /is/ Ubuntu, and Mint comes as a good   
   second (even though Mint is currently ranked higher on Distrowatch).   
   But saying "Ubuntu" is like saying "Android", i.e. you're not mentioning   
   GNU or Linux in the name, and so in the mainstream media - who for most   
   part really do have some kind of embargo on news regarding GNU/Linux -   
   Ubuntu has become a popular buzzword - possibly because there's a   
   corporate entity behind Ubuntu - and is touted as "an alternative for   
   Microsoft Windows", which is also how Canonical itself profiles it.   
      
   So...  That's where the MickeySoft drones go now.  Most of my killfile   
   entries are for alt.os.linux.ubuntu, and as of recently, I've also had   
   to add a few for alt.os.linux.mint.  I don't think I have any entries   
   for alt.os.linux.mageia or alt.os.linux.mandriva specifically, but I do   
   have some entries that span multiple groups, and that may include this   
   one here.   
      
   >>> My news server, eternal-september, seems to have a.o.l.mageia back   
   >>> to about New Year's.   
   >>   
   >> No, it was much sooner.   
   >   
   > I was referring to their retention.  They only have aol.mandriva   
   > back to December, and it's been around much longer than that.   
   > Teranews has aol.mandriva back to 2005, but doesn't have aol.mageia   
   > (yet).  There are separate Mageia groups on the (free) Gmane server,   
   > and they have g.l.m.user back to September 2010.   
      
   As I understand it, those Mageia groups on Gmane are actually the   
   mailing lists, published as newsgroups.  They do that for the Gentoo   
   groups as well.   
      
   > I see a few familiar usernames there among many unfamiliar ones.   
      
   Well, mailing lists are a different medium, of course.  It's a different   
   part of the community.   
      
   >>> Possibly the "best" distro for me right now IMO might even be   
   >>> something else entirely.   
   >>   
   >> Only you would know that.  As long as you realize that Ubuntu and   
   >> derivatives are things you best stay away from, coming from Mandriva.   
   >> :p   
   >   
   > I get the impression some of the Linux community looks down on   
   > Ubuntu.   
      
     Hmmm...  I wonder why that would be?  :p   
      
   > No, I wasn't thinking of *buntu. :-)   
      
   Good, then there is still hope for you. :p   
      
   >>> A while back, I learned a technique for quantifying subjective   
   >>> decisions into objective ones, and I may end up using that method   
   >>> here too.   
   >>   
   >> And now I have no idea what you're talking about. :p   
   >   
   > I can explain it if you want.  Basically it uses one's own   
   > priorities to determine the "best match", whether it's where to live   
   > or what career to go into or which distro to use.   
      
   Ah okay, now I get it.  Well, in the grander scheme of things, all   
   observation is ultimately subjective.  That's how the universe works.   
   The art lies in being able to attain the grandest vision, so that the   
   greatest degree of neutrality can be assumed. ;-)   
      
   > BTW I had to look through several Mageia repositories to find one   
   > that had the final release of Mageia 2, but I'm downloading it as I   
   > type this.  My internal HD now has four 20 GB partitions for four   
   > different distros/releases, so I can try up to three others at a   
   > time without affecting my "production" system.   
      
   Okay, so you've got room for...   
      
        ° Mandriva,   
        ° Mageia,   
        ° PCLinuxOS, and   
        ° openSUSE   
      
   Those four seem the closest related.  Of course, some could argue that   
   openSUSE would be less related to the other three than Fedora, but   
   Fedora is not a reliable distro for production use.  It's too bleeding   
   edge, and too much of a nanny, given its relationship to RedHat.   
   openSUSE on the other hand is highly usable as a day-to-day   
   distribution, and doesn't suffer from RedHat-itis. ;-)   
      
   --   
   = Aragorn =   
   (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)