ZDNet: A very apt app

"The availability of apt-get doesn't eliminate all RPM-related problems (most notably Red Hat's tendency to make gratuitous and backward-incompatible changes in the RPM format, often timed to coincide with Red Hat's own Linux releases). But it provides some badly needed extra flexibility to non-Debian users' abilities to manage their own systems.

The availability of apt-get for RPM files demonstrates a substantial strength of open source. The fact that apt-get was open source guaranteed that it could be ported. With the Debian creators publishing the source code to apt-get and Red Hat publishing the specifications of the RPM file format, all the porting material was available. Connectiva simply provided the initiative and programming resources.

Now that it's not hidden in Debian, apt-get easily allows any credible Linux integrator to offer its own version of the Red Hat Network or Ximian's Red Carpet service. Armed with apt-get, even a startup support provider can offer the kind of services once thought to require big-company portals."

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