Originally Posted by sphoid

I've been into linux since the mid 90's when it was still fairly obscure, the first version I tried was Suse 6 and Redhat 5 (Before they went commercial) so I have a fair amount of experience with RPM based distros as well as deb based distros. It was actually gentoo that really slingshotted me into truly understanding the linux underpinnings so as a result I'm pretty comfortable in just about any distro now.

I prefer debian based distros mostly because of the package management system. Apt/dpkg has been much more capable than RPM for much longer and it's ubiquity makes it effortless to get the software I want or need. I personally enjoy Ubuntu because I don't really have to babysit it like I used to have to do with earlier distros. It's great for newbs and gurus alike because for the most part 'it just works' and has a lot of community attention.

I've been a sys admin as well as a desktop application developer as well as a desktop enthusiast so I consider myself a jack of all trades as far as computers go. I think having dabbled in all of the different aspects, I am afforded an deeper insight into the hows and whys of development which has served me well. I went into web app development mainly because it was the natural evolutionary step since most development has gone online.

I'm glad to make a new friend and I'd love to contribute wherever I can. My involvement with eROI and my affinity for open source software has pushed me to become more active in the development community abroad so I'll do what i can to further the cause. ;)