Anonymous: The problem isn't just the packages that are distributed. Yes, regular updates to all the packages keeps the distribution up to date, but then you have touch broken configs regularly.

I believe there are two major points that Brad is trying to solve:
1) Configuration. Some packages can only be configured by modifying the config file that comes with the package. When you install a new version of the package, your config can be lost. This is broken, and I think the very simple solution of not making the user put their changes into the distribution config file is probably the best possible first to finally fixing this.

2) Dependancy. Not every package in the world is distributed through a package manager or has proper dependancies. Especially with software that one compiles oneself, the package manager is usually out of the loop, and thus, I can easily find myself with important software that 'suddenly' is broken. As Brad has noted, this is a MAJOR pain in the posterior, and doesn't do anything to help the image of Linux, or to get us away from dependancy on M$.

One thing I'm curious about: What do the Linspire folks do? Do they simply assume that you won't run anything that didn't come from them? Since all the packages would come through them, that would at least make it theoretically possible for all the packages to be correct. Do they have a real solution for config files?

Brad, thanks for getting a conversation going on this topic. I'm not currently using Linux daily, in part because maintaining the damn thing became more effort that it was worth to me.