“The latest Debian Project News recently announced a code freeze
in preparation for a new release by the end of 2010. It’s a sign of
the times that the news went mostly unreported. Which makes me
wonder: What is Debian’s role today?“There’s no doubt that, in most people’s minds, Debian no longer
occupies the place it once had in free and open source software
(FOSS). Five or six years ago, upcoming Debian releases, or
elections for Debian Project Leader were major news in the
community (I know, because I covered them). Now, few of the news
sites gives much attention to either event.“Partly, this change is due to shifting priorities. The emphasis
in FOSS today is on usability, and Debian remains burdened with a
reputation of being hard to install and use. Under these
circumstances, Debian seems to be yesterday’s distribution…”