*Sigh* You really want to hear me rant about this? You asked for one reason, but I know that means a complete-in-depth detailed list. So here goes.
<rant>
I don't like bashing on linux, whatever the distribution, because it's all the same open-source community n [censored], but you have to admit that some distros ...*cough*SLACK have a huge advantage over redhat.
The install program for rh crashes on occasions where you select independent packages, this isn't so bad the first few times because of the easy-[censored] install-I don't mind going back, but after a while it gets so ... [censored] <img border="0" alt="[Bang]" title="" src="graemlins/bang.gif" /> annoying!
Redhat is also very mainstream if you haven't noticed. Let me explain how this affects the product as a whole: Redhat is well-known and many people probably use it, for a while at least. Lots of windows users who are looking for an alternative to microsoft's bullshit, propriety-[censored] software will migrate to linux. Do you see where this is going? I'll explain more ... they come to the linux scene and are almost automatically ambushed with rh's 'easy to install' [censored] all up in their faces. They think to themselves, "Easy linux install? Wow, that's exactly what I'm looking for." So they install it and it to make things even easier rh offers a "Graphical Login" option for X. This means that when you boot your computer it gives you a login screen, not just to the system, but loads X immediately afterwards. Now I'm thinking to myself ... I know that there's nothing wrong with choosing to run X, but under redhat it SUCKS. At times it's very unstable and way too slow. So anyways, rh sees this and that is why they make [censored] so easy. But making it easy doesn't automatically mean good things. The only thing the user will learn is how to manipulate X into their own creation. They wont learn the rest of the system and what it has to offer untill they advance and switch to a better distro. They might also pick up on how to unzip files and hopefully, install them so they can use all their favorite x apps.
Anyways, as I was saying, it's slow as death. I ran rh on an i686, which isn't too shabby, but it ran like [censored]. Very slow. And to be honest I don't like the package manager, either. The system is riddled with bugs, and overall is just a big pain in the [censored] <img border="0" alt="[Puke]" title="" src="graemlins/puke.gif" />
Those are my own reasons as to why I say redhat sucks. RH may not suck for you - maybe you like dealing with all that ... just HAPPY [censored] I mentioned ... but I don't. If you still think I'm lying or don't know what I'm talking about go ahead and try it out yourself and soon you too will come to realise the weakness of rh ... eventually.
The most useful thing I see rh (or mandrake)
doing as part of the linux community is getting people the hell away from windows, and that's always a plus. Maybe user-friendliness has it's purposes afteral, but if you want a real OS with balls of steel redhat probably isn't what you're looking for. If you want an easy to use linux system, PhatLinux, Mandrake or redhat is probably for you.
Okay I sound like a damn commercial now so I think I'll stop. Hope you're happy
</rant>