[ale] What divides Linux Distros?

[DJ-Pfulio]

On 2/5/21 5:09 PM, Leam Hall wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 5:05 PM DJ-Pfulio via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>> On 2/5/21 1:50 PM, Leam Hall via Ale wrote:
>>> Besides some of us not liking systemd, is there a real reason for so
>>> many Linux distros? Outside of "because we can", I mean.
>>>
>>> Not putting anyone down, I just wonder what would happen if we joined
>>> efforts a bit more.
>>
>> Everyone is a little different. If someone decides to make a slightly
>> different distro (cough - Linux Mint), then they can. People get tired
>> of kitchen sink solutions, when we all have different kitchens. Every
>> Linux user needs a slightly different solution.
>>
>> You may as well ask, why are there so many colors, types of shoes,
>> vehicles, TVs, desks, chairs, word processors, blogs.
> 
> 
> I'm more thinking of the variety that could grow if distro makers
> could build just the bits they needed, instead of having to do the
> whole thing to get their one thing.
> 
> In theory, it's all Linux, and the layers on top are built for the
> task you want. How difficult is it to build those layers so they are
> extensible?

But that's confusing to grandma. She wants an all-inclusive install.
If something she wants isn't included, then that is a failing OS 
problem.

I don't know about 20.04.2, but the prior desktop installers had a 
"minimal install" option, which didn't do too many applications, though
I lost the battle about NOT including Firefox / whatever the default 
browser was. They did have this reason - people boot these initial 
systems and sometimes have issues to lookup answers for online. Pre-
installing a bloated browser was deemed important, regardless. I 
should have suggested dillo, but really wasn't thinking too hard. They
did remove a few other programs, however, based on feedback from pre-
release testers.