Another thing I would add to your list is the availability of the DVD1,2 and 3 .iso images from most mirrors, and for sale at nominal cost from a number of DVD

Another thing I would add to your list is the availability of the DVD1,2 and 3 .iso images from most mirrors, and for sale at nominal cost from a number of DVD suppliers. This means that you can install from scratch and subsequently add a huge amount of software locally without access to an Internet connection. Should you be radically off-grid, or confined to expensive mobile Internet access, this is a tremendous advantage compared to most other distributions that I know of. http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/wheezy-offgrid.html http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/wheezy-offgrid.html Above works more or less the same way for Jessie. Links to DVD iso images need updating as Wheezy has now been archived.