Debian CDs are bootable, assuming your hardware
supports that. In i386, in fact, there are 3 bootable CDs for the different flavors (you should probably be using the 2nd or 3rd CD to boot rather than the first, see the docs).
Debian has a most excellent installer. I never have to compile my own programs any more. Most people use the command-line installer: apt-get install .
As for going to a web page and clicking on a package and installing it, you actually can do this in Debian (at least with Lynx it will let you do that), but it's far better to have a large set of packages (over 7000 for i386) which are centrally organized and managed. This is what Debian has and no one else has. No messing with rpmfind.net, dodgy packages from 3rd parties, with a central place http://bugs.debian.org/ to report bugs.
Ok, sure, maybe the GUI versions of the installer still need some work, but that's been moving along pretty well.
I agree with you on some level, and I think most developers do too. But where the installer is critical is for new users, people trying Debian out, etc. Debian is of course for hackers and by hackers, but I think there have been serious inroads to making Debian more user-friendly. Replacing the installation system, in our opinion, will remove one of the biggest and last hurdles which prevent a lot of users from trying and loving Debian as we do.
As someone who's has to maintain boot-floppies for
the last 2 releases (Potato and Woody) and was also
involved in Slink boot-floppies, I can definately state that it is broken. The source is incredibly
hard to maintain and keep in sync with the state
of the archive.
Its also very hard to build on or customize. The fact that most Debian redistributors decided to write their own installation system rather than work with boot-floppies should tell you something about that.
Regarding tasksel, changes have been made and will continue to be made to allow the task lists to be maintained by the archive maintainers from base itself, with hints from the package maintainer.
All your suggestions are good ones.
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Debian CDs are bootable, assuming your hardware supports that. In i386, in fact, there are 3 bootable CDs for the different flavors (you should probably be using the 2nd or 3rd CD to boot rather than the first, see the docs).
Debian has a most excellent installer. I never have to compile my own programs any more. Most people use the command-line installer: apt-get install . As for going to a web page and clicking on a package and installing it, you actually can do this in Debian (at least with Lynx it will let you do that), but it's far better to have a large set of packages (over 7000 for i386) which are centrally organized and managed. This is what Debian has and no one else has. No messing with rpmfind.net, dodgy packages from 3rd parties, with a central place http://bugs.debian.org/ to report bugs. Ok, sure, maybe the GUI versions of the installer still need some work, but that's been moving along pretty well.
I agree with you on some level, and I think most developers do too. But where the installer is critical is for new users, people trying Debian out, etc. Debian is of course for hackers and by hackers, but I think there have been serious inroads to making Debian more user-friendly. Replacing the installation system, in our opinion, will remove one of the biggest and last hurdles which prevent a lot of users from trying and loving Debian as we do.
As someone who's has to maintain boot-floppies for the last 2 releases (Potato and Woody) and was also involved in Slink boot-floppies, I can definately state that it is broken. The source is incredibly hard to maintain and keep in sync with the state of the archive. Its also very hard to build on or customize. The fact that most Debian redistributors decided to write their own installation system rather than work with boot-floppies should tell you something about that. Regarding tasksel, changes have been made and will continue to be made to allow the task lists to be maintained by the archive maintainers from base itself, with hints from the package maintainer. All your suggestions are good ones.