[TriLUG] Switching distros based on marketing, rumor, FUD -- or based on technical merit?

[elfick]

On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 10:07, Jeremy Portzer wrote:
> Over the past few days, I've seen a lot of people mention that they will
> be moving away from Red Hat because they don't like its "new
> direction."  While I am fully supportive of choice in the distro wars, I
> don't quite understand the need to switch based on marketing information
> (or rumors of such), or FUD from various sources.  Wouldn't it be more
> appropriate to use a distribution for its technical merits intead?
<snip>
> Sure, the position and comments of a company are important to the
> general goal of Linux advocacy.  I too am dissapointed in the Red Hat
> CEO's comments about the status of Linux on the desktop.  But these
> types of things will NOT make me stop using Red Hat / Fedora, as I use
> them based on their technical merits.  Fedora Core 1 hasn't even been
> released yet, and still everyone is griping that it's not for them.  Why
> don't you TRY it first ?

I could see and understand someone changing products based on statements
from that products producer. In an open market this is often an
excellent way for the consumer to display their dissappointment in a way
that effects the company more than a call/letter.
-Lee