I read articles like these hoping they'd contain more interesting distributions that would challenge the status quo. Projects like GoboLinux, NixOS and such are

I read articles like these hoping they'd contain more interesting distributions that would challenge the status quo. Projects like GoboLinux, NixOS and such are far more alien from the average Linux distribution, which tend to be more alike than they are different. There's strong viewpoints behind them that are offering new looks at how we all could be doing things, even if they are merely one or two radical changes here and there. On some level I think that people who try new things with Linux tend to get shouted down, usually with intense appeals to tradition -- and unless you're working on Fedora, chances are it won't see light of day. I actually view this as pretty unhealthy. It doesn't matter if these new hypothetical alien Linux distros are actually good or bad, what's important is that people are constantly trying new things for all of us to learn from. If someone asks me about the 'perfect Linux distribution' and they only want to talk about the mainstream distributions, it means we're not dreaming big enough.