I was discussing OS's with a friend yesterday and showing him MX14. We both came to the same conclusions regarding the current state of Linux OS's.
Most dedicated users either have a distro they love and stick with or they are hoppers, always wanting to try something new. New users of Linux migrating from XP usually want something that will let them easily perform task they are used to performing with a minimal learning curve; they want stabilty. having noted the above lets look at how develepoers approach OS's.

Major distro's generally use an LTS/Interim model; users that want stabilty have the LTS while enthusiast have what is essentialy beta's for the next LTS to play with/test. This model works well but I feel it woould be more attractive to new users if LTS periods were twice as long i.e 10 years vice 5. For all it's faults MS supported XP for 12 years; users became comfortable with XP because for the most part it performed the task they needed to. The drive to always want a newer slicker interface or fancy doodads in the windows world is driven by ever increasing hardware capabilty and MS's wanting to sell users something new. In the Linux world the drive to always add more glitz to the desktop seems driven by the increased hardware capabilty and enthusiast desire for cool stuff. What gets lost is the average user that wants a working system that performs the way they expect. If mint for example has always recognized my wifi then in the newest version the wifi does not work it is frustrating to users. Where am I going with this? Well...

I think where MX14 is; a rolling release based on stable is a great start towards a"just keep working" Linux. incremental updates should fix things that need to be fixed and not focus on new features unless there is an overwhelming call for them. If XFCE is the de choice then concentrate on making the whole OS work as well as possible within that DE if enthusiast want to switch they can but the primary is where vev's efforts should go IMHO. I think the Antix/MX team does a great job of trying to stay within this model and not chase things like KDE etc....

Yours was an interesting post. I agree I think really, with the essence of it OP.

While I havent tried symbiosis as yet, Antix in the past has had a fairly good rollout strategy.

I too hopped from distro to distro like you mentioned. For the last few years, I have held some version of Antix on live CD and this has become my main distro after migrating from opensuse - which was NICE, but not as lightweight / dextrous.

I can attest, having been in IT for several years to the truth of that story regarding windows (xp for eg) users that migrate.
When I tried Antix - it was a breath of fresh air -
Youtube worked (flash), sound was there (and continues to be supported 90-+% of the rigs I install).
Package management was GOOD, firm. (Change your sources - and get apps, that simple.) Oh - install synaptic with apt-get pretty early. Everything slowly became habbit, and I felt myself really coming home with Antix, gradually.

I leave Antix and go back to windoze computing for a while - and literally have to re-learn some simple things!

Another thing I liked about Antix was the fluid choice of a DE from before boot. Nice
Antix live CD, convinces me someday the geniuses here should work on a strictly util-based CD, like Hirens. ; ) ; ). You guys in Dev have the skill, and the right ideas.


All said: I'm a minimalist so the cpu cycles that antix demonstrated did NOT have to be chewed up by OS background processes - was very pleasing. It was a"cmooon! thats what i'm talkin bout!!" moment - which highlighted my message of MS bloatedness and inefficent coding.

Antix is undeniably, one of the best distros out there.
I dont say its THE BEST. But I'm telling you- it HAS TO BE, one of the best. Badass.

(ps - I'd go lightweight >> midweight) most times though..

Grim0x wrote:Antix live CD, convinces me someday the geniuses here should work on a strictly util-based CD, like Hirens. ; ) ; ). You guys in Dev have the skill, and the right ideas.

If a LiveUSB will suit your needs then you can easily do this for yourself using the Live-remaster feature. I think m_pav has already done something like this starting either with antiX or with MX.