Mike ..entry level ? humm i find that hard to believe just because they try and intergrate new techs into their distro doesnt mean they are entry level. You can customize any Distro to act like any other distro with enough tinkering.To say that Debian is "Advanced" and Red hat is "entry level" is ludricious ! It does have some features that Red Hat doesnt and red hat has some that it doesnt. It more a matter of who lives on the edge and who doesnt. Red Hat Does .,some people like that some dont. Without that "living on the edge" you have much slower advancement in the Linux world.
On the issue of secure. its a user error not a OS error. They pack redhat (like many other distros *cough* SuSe *cough* Mandrake *cough* ) with LOTS of tools that run by default some people need some ...not many but some do. identd for example a few IRC servers need it . Is it a secuirty risk ? Probably but hell if you know what you are doing you SECURE THE BOX BEFORE YOU HOOOK UP THE NETWORK CABLE !!!! If you dont like your security ? rebuild to a 2.4.* level Kernal and use Iptables or use the 2.2.* level ipchains. Script it in rc.local and have a safe secure day. And for heavens sake hit /etc/rc.d/rc3.d (if you are in run level 3) and wipe out the pesky services that you dont need taht run at startup. There is lots more that can be done but for the sake of space iw ill stop now on this point.
On the issue of spending $$ for a OS. DO you think it will be free forever and STILL GROW ? Without $$ Linux (or anything for that matter ) cannot progress. No Progress then ole bill gets the last laugh. Its just like hacking games into ISO and slapping them up on the net for free. What happens? companies CLOSE developrs go to other areas and few games get release ? Why you ask ? NO MONEY

I bought Red hat, SuSe and a few other distros single copies and have every release of most linux that i got off the net. I love the OS and feel that it can go far BUT it needs the support of the community. The level of support depends on the person.
If you can afford it BUY IT ...if you have 3 Pcs with the latest hardware and 1 or more runs linux and you havent bought at least 1 copy or it or a book or something that supports the companies that help make it happen then you are dooming linux to be a slow grower. We all want stuff for free but its like anything in life you get what you pay for ..do you want Bill to have the Benz and Linux the be a Dawoo or Kia ? Come on people open those pocketbooks i know you have the cash
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Chris Layton AkA |NUDE|LoPhatSPAM
Admin and Co-Founder MemphisGibfest
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ChrisLayton on 2001-08-22 13:56 ]</font>