Linked by Robert Tischer on Wed 8th Oct 2003 19:29 UTC
The purpose of this review is to provide some additional exposure to source-based Linux distributions in general, and Sorcerer in particular. We've been using Sorcerer where I work since January of this year and have been completely satisfied with the experience. Hopefully this review will give you a good idea of why we use Sorcerer, and it may move you to try it yourself. I'm no systems adminstrator, so if I can install and work with Sorcerer, most people with a little Linux experience will be able to also. 
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But haven't you answered your own criticism? You criticize Kyle Sallee in the context of reliability, but ignore the fact that any one distribution could be gone tomorrow, GPL or no. If your favorite distro is no longer developed, supported, available, etc., what do you do? You switch! Heck, you might get bored and switch anyway. I'm convinced that one doesn't need Kyle to keep running Sorcerer. If you read the license that Sorcerer is distributed under, you will find no restriction as to use of Sorcerer. In fact, from the terms of the license, Kyle could not revoke your rights to use Sorcerer, AND you would still be free to distribute Sorcerer (unmodified, but you could distribute modifications as long as they were distributed separately and you have to maintain Kyle's copyrights). Such a scenario may not be for everyone, not merely the GPL purists, but the technically 'less-abled.' Of course, that would mean that you'd have to do your own work, or engage others to share the work ala any other non-comercially engaged distribution, which means that you'd have to keep up with the application changes, so that updates would continue to be available within the Sorcerer framework.
As for some of the other comments:
Yes, I meant transparent X-Chat.
My claim that X compiles under Sorcerer in 15 minutes. Hmmm, two possiblities: 1) it was an error, or 2) it was a devious attempt to disparage Lunar, Gentoo and any other source-based distribution. I guess since I mentioned a couple of times how long it takes to compile, cast, etc., I would tend to think it was an error. GASP! Yes, it really takes about 55 minutes to cast XFree86. Mea culpa.
A general comment about other source-based distributions. I haven't tried any other than Sorcerer (only so much time and so many resources). My use of Sorcerer was through work, and we've been entirely satisfied. However, if you run a different distro, by all means trumpet that fact, but be specific about why you are so devoted. Personally, I haven't used a distro I haven't loved. I wish I could use all 150+. From this I've learned that Gentoo has 6000 packages (that's about 5500 more than I would ever use) and has distcc (so does Sorcerer and other distros). Just remember, for every great story about yor favorite distro, there will be a sob story about how it didn't work for someone else. I've been involved in adminstering Sorcerer on several desktops and have never had a serious problem, but I've seen others get fed up and dump it.
Anyway thanks for all the comments (well, maybe all except the "Linux is a piece of crap" comment.
Rob