Four Commandments of Open Source:
My favorite part of Passover, however, is the mandatory re-watching the classic 1956 academy award-winning film, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as the Pharaoh Rameses. The special effects and the miniatures and sets on this movie would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce today, and it just wouldn’t be the same done in CGI and with “new school” Hollywood actors. My favorite scene in that movie is when Moses goes up to Mt. Sinai and receives the tablets from the Lord, which are inscribed with lightning bolts shooting down from the sky by the Almighty, Blessed be He. Publishing on demand! Cool.
While I would hardly classify myself as a monotheistic deity on the level of the God of Abraham or even worthy of making statements of such cultural magnitude upon high, I would like to take this opportunity, perhaps, as we approach the Passover season, to make some suggestions for Commandments that future generations of technologists and technology companies wishing to pursue Open Source community activities might want to follow.
Which Linux distribution to choose?
I can’t begin to tell you how many people over the years I have consulted with about choosing a Linux distribution. And even with my own personal loyalties to one distribution or another, it always amazes me how certain distributions are better suited to various users and needs. So when I set out to write a 10 Things article, it only made sense that my first one be related to choosing a Linux distribution.
Of course, times and opinions change. For nearly 10 years I road the Red Hat/Fedora wagon. And then, after considerable thought, I jumped over to Ubuntu. Why? Because it fit my evolving needs. Many will argue that one Linux distribution is just like another — and I agree, on fundamentals. But when it comes down to everyday use, each distribution is different from the next. So why would you want to use Debian vs. Fedora or Ubuntu vs. Mandriva? Let’s dive into this and find out.
