If you know anything about Linux, you know that there is a proliferation of distribution (or distros as they are called). Distrowatch lists 579 different active distros in the current list (BSD-based systems included). There is a list of "major" distributions, but, if you included derivatives, it still make a rather long list. Each have positives and negatives, and trying to decide which one is the best on pure technical merit is like trying to decide which of the 12 different sort of milk is the right one based solely on the ingredients. At the core, they are the same, and the choise is more based on impression than real merit.
The choise was not an easy one, yet, in the long run, it is really insignificant. I can always change distros in the future if I'm not satified, with minimal cost and downtime (because I planned to document every configuration change) Of course, my 'troubles' doesn't really stop at the distribution choise. You also need to chose what application to use. At that point, I didn't want to make any more important decisions, I followed advice from a book, and used the default for the rest.
It may seems insginficant (after all, it was a couple of minutes in a single day), but i've postponed that project for weeks because I didn't want to make the decision. I was afraid to make the wrong choise.
It's silly really. Any choise in this matter is better than not doing anything at all. Yet, it was still a road block. I would explain why the multiplication of choise is paralysing, but Barry Schwartz and Dan Gilbert already did it better than I ever could:
- Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice | Video on TED.com
- Dan Gilbert asks, Why are we happy? | Video on TED.com
To say that this isn't the story of my life would be an understatement. The problem is not taking a decision, it is trying to take the perfect decision... in everything. I like to be efficient, yet I lose much more energy trying to find the perfect solution to any problem. Of course, this missed the obvious fact that we, as human being, are not efficient in finding the perfect solution to a complex problem. Trying to find the perfect solution to the travelling salesman problem without a computer is going to take a very, very long, time. Or course, yet again, in this case any solution is better than no solution at all...
Can you take a guess as to why I'm still single? (hint: I can't decide where to start searching!)
Anyway, I better get back to that server.
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