Philosophical Distinctions

Non profit organization:

• Debian is a part of Software in the Public Interest, a non profit organization started in 1997.
• The Debian Social Contract is an upfront statement of the organizations commitment to computer users.

Compatibility to other Unices:

• Generally, all Linuxs are compatible with POSIX 1.
• Comment from mailing list: Especially for educational purposes debian is better than RH because it's file system structure conforms to the traditional unices.  Therefore, use of debian gives users transferable skills in other unix environments.

Application Rules:

• Only software that conforms to the Debian Free Software Guidelines is allowed in the main area.  Software with other Licenses is in Contrib, Non-Free or Non-US area.

Personal:

I found the Debian web site to be the most useful for learning and understanding how to use a Linux system.  The web site is not just a commercial advertisement like other distribution sites.  The various docs at the site have all the information needed to get up and going:

• Installation manual
• FAQ
• Release notes

The package system is easy to use and understand.  The web site also provides a useful database of all available packages with downloadable links.