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Kfir Lavi wrote: |
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> What will be the major points I need to make in order to convert |
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> their minds from Ubuntu to Gentoo embedded? |
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It depends. Maybe Ubuntu would actually be a fine choice for the |
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customer. |
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> "Why Gentoo?" for people that don't understand Linux, but are |
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> educated and very experienced in software. |
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Key words are configurability (security, size, speed benefits), |
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repeatability (archive all sources and the build tools to recreate |
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from scratch forever), being source based (easy to stay close to |
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upstream, noone else makes arbitrary decisions on versions, easy to |
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also collect all licensing information), unparalleled simplicity and |
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power in the packaging system (ebuilds are vamped up sh scripts) and |
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excellent documentation of the same (pms-3.pdf). |
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Some of the above are significant advantages for some customers, and |
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major headaches for others. I would suggest that Gentoo will require |
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more "positive QA" to determine that the finished system behaves as |
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desired, while something based on Ubuntu requires more "negative QA" |
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to check if the Ubuntu system still works even if stripped down. |
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Gentoo also requires being able to make decisions. This means having |
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an ear to the upstream tracks. For someone who is not interested in |
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this it is much more comfortable to rely on Canonical's ears to the |
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tracks, albeit that means giving up much choice. |
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|
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This is the selling point as a consultant - if you are skilled and |
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experienced with the open source community, perhaps even a |
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contributor in one or more projects, then you have a strong case as |
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being an open source expert. |
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If that also means that you are experienced enough to appreciate the |
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versatility of Gentoo, and able to compare it with the Ubuntu way, |
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then it should be easy to motivate your preference of Gentoo. |
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Of course, maybe your customer does not want to become, or depend on, |
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an open source expert - which may still be valid - in which case I |
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would advise against Gentoo, but in fact also Linux at all. |
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If they are business people rather than software people then you |
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could motivate Gentoo with the fact that it allows you to accomplish |
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virtually any configuration and extension they would like to have in |
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the future very efficiently, while Ubuntu is generally restricted to |
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one particular way of doing things. |
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(And of course Ubuntu above can be replaced with any other binary |
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distribution.) |
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//Peter |
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