A visit to the linux shop

Alright, I admit it. I fell for it.

I saw yet another article posted by someone who apparently has nothing better to do than beat dead horses. I cannot say I am in a much better position because here I sit, making one last attempt to clue someone in on something most of us see as obvious.

The view espoused by so many bloggers and other 'writers' who cannot come to terms with the number and volume of distros available, that somehow there are 'too many', is akin to that of a child who complains in a candy store that because he or she cannot make up their mind from the great variety that it is a fault of the shop and candy makers for making too many types of candy.

Let's take 'root beer barrels' into consideration. If one goes into a candy store of any worth, it will have anywhere from 3 to 5 brands of root beer barrel candy.

These overtaxed choosers would undoubtedly say that there are simply too many types of root beer barrels, because that chooser only happens to like one or two them and that should be good enough for anyone.

Let's look at it from the shop owner and candy maker's point of view though.

Each candy maker has their own recipe. sure it's a rootbeer barrel, but one makes it a bit more bitter, another makes theirs a bit 'creamier' yet another's recipe calls for a smoother taste and so it goes.

There are apparently many ways to produce a rootbeer barrel that can afford the makers of each to find different ways to present their candy.

Let's go back to the shop owner. Is his shop for only one customer and once he finds that one customers likes he will never again stock the others? Of course not, that's ridiculous. The shop serves many different people and people have different tastes. The more varieties the vendor can afford to carry provides something that might appeal to each individual customer.

Let's visit another comparison. This one to address the commercial concept of a market only being able to hold a limited number of makes or varieties.

Let's talk teddy bears. There are more varieties of teddy bears on the open market than one could shake a stick at. I am sure many of these would be 'writers' would agree from their views of 'too much is too many' that there are also too many types of teddy bears available. Why, isn't a sampling of five or so enough? I mean for goodness sake, these are just teddy bears we are talking about.

Yet, we see a proliferation of vendors carrying huge assortments of teddy bears. They can be found online, in malls, mail order, you name it, they are everywhere.

As a matter of fact, I can think of at least one successful chain where they allow customers to choose from a large variety of designs and then 'make their own' teddy bear. They start with one of, let's say ten, 'main' types of teddy bears. They then progress down a line where they can stuff that bear to their preference, hard packed for a very firm bear, less firm for a more 'cuddly' bear and any degree of firmness in between.

Customers then select inserts like a 'heart' or a music box or the like to insert into the bear, if they like and proceed to have the bear sewn up in front of them.

After that, oh ho, after that, there is an entire store of accessories and anything at all you can possibly imagine to adorn and further customize that teddy bear to ones own preference and intent.

Doesn't that sound familiar?

If we start with one of say six 'basic' Linux distros such as fedora, debian, opensuse, gentoo, slackware and mandriva.

Take one of those to start one's foray into Linux, this would be one of the 'basic' teddy bears known to appeal to most folks in design and presentation,.

After inspecting said 'main' distro, one decides they want or need some functionality to further enhance their Linux experience. They can then follow a chart posted on the wall, pointing to derivative versions that list the modifications making each one a little different.

We then choose a derivative that most closely matches our needs and wants, and yet, there is still something that doesn't quite make it an exact fit for our needs. we are in a niche market and our use of linux must match that niche. So, being the handy people we are, we take it upon ourselves to modify it till we have it fit as best as it possibly can or at least until new applications and features become available that further fit the need and niche.

We are also good community members, we realize that we obtained this OS for free and paid no licensing for it. We paid no fee to be able to change it for our specific needs, and we want to give back. Here we share our version with others. We add it to the chart on the wall for who knows, perhaps there are others who fall into the same niche as we do and if they come browsing the chart on the wall in the Linux store, they will find a version that is tailor made to fit that niche, or at least close enough to minimize the amount of customization they would need to do.

There is plenty of room for all the various distros, no matter how small or how 'niche' they might be. Others will use them, or they won't.

Who are these bitter and opinionated people who feel compelled to tell us when they think it is too much? Did they suddenly buy the Linux store? Are they the Minister of Availability now? I should hope in an open community and an open market that there is no such person as a Minister of Availability.

The users, the consumers, will decide which ones stay and which ones do not. If a blogger who wasn't patient enough to make their own bear wants contentment, perhaps they should shop where the bear is made for them, the work is done in a back room and the end result is 'you get what we give you, but we guarantee it". There are lots of shops like that in town, I'm sure one of them would be glad for your business, just as the Linux shop is glad to have mine.