003welcome.qxd" 08.05.2001 8:54 Uhr Seite 3
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International Editors Harald Milz
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Hans-Georg Esser
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Ulrich Wolf
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This month sees the release of a variety of Eventually, most distributions seem to
International Contributors Simon Budig, Mirko D�lle,
new Linux distributions, some of which we merge. Although they all have their own
Albert Flugel, Bj�rn Ganslandt,
Georg Greve, Sebastian review in this issue. These releases have, of nuances, their collective similarities ultimately
Gunther, Pablo Gussmann,
course, been precipitated by the recent outweigh individual differences. SuSE has its
Andreas Huchler, Patricia Jung,
Oliver Kluge, Lars Martin, Jo
release of the 2.4 kernel. Each new YaST configure system, Debian its package
Moskalewski, Christian Perle,
Thomas Ruge, Ronald
distribution builds on the one before it and is apt-get tool and Mandrake its drake tools. All
Schaffhirt, Fabian Schmidt, Tim
Sch�rmann, Volker
better than the last, with advances being good. All worth having. All missed when on
Schwaberow, Stefanie Teufel,
Christian Wagenknecht
made either in ease of use or in functionality. another machine  but equally all
Design Renate Ettenberger vero-design, The promise of added functionality naturally circumvented on other systems. It leaves me
Tym Leckey
necessitates an upgrade  but which wanting a combination of everything and so,
Production Bernadette Taylor,
upgrade to choose and how to manage it? like most other users of Linux, I add packages
Stefanie Huber
If I remain with one distribution I gain the and modify files until the system ends up as
Operations Manager Pam Shore
benefit of being very familiar with it  the hybrid I require. Another user may love or
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anticipating its shortfalls and fully exploiting loathe my systems  but they re my systems,
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its strengths. Sticking with one boxset would and so, my choice.
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free me from the constant race to keep up This exercise left me thinking just how
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with new developments  with so many many distributions are available. Woven
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distributions coming out I would need to Goods for Linux lists some 71 distributions.
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install almost daily to keep up with every However if we count differing systems rather
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Also, my day job allows me to use Linux configures there own machine, there could be
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On the other hand, I wouldn t like to miss this figure? Well, this is the most conservative
Distributors COMAG, Tavistock Road, West out when other distributions race ahead. figure based on the number of people who
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Sticking with one system may mean that the have registered on the Linux counter
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virtues of another s tools pass me by and (http://counter.li.org). Although not everyone
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changing between distributions has the who is registered is still using Linux, a far
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Fortunately, I can resolve this dilemma quite Linux. The site estimates up to a hundredfold
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easily: With development systems at home, and factor for each country, giving England some
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a stable system at work, I am lucky enough to 685,400 active Linux users. Quite a
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