In my original article on this, I discussed how Canonical's overbearing nature on distributions derived from Ubuntu is causing those developers to move from an Ubuntu base to something else (usually a Debian base).
A lot of posts on the actual original article on Mark Shuttleworth's comments remarked that it is only a matter of time before Linux Mint (Ubuntu's most popular derivative distribution) would move away from Ubuntu and towards Debian.
Well, folks, I am here to report that these speculations are coming to fruition (at least partly so).
Linux Mint is releasing an LXDE edition for PowerPC-based computers (i.e. old Apple iMac computers) based on Debian 5.0 "Lenny". Hence, this is not given a typical Linux Mint version number as it is not based off of Ubuntu (like the standard Linux Mint releases).
I'm going to guess that as Debian 5.0 is a slightly older operating system (it's about 2 years old), it would provide a more stable and less sluggish base for older computers. However, I would also say that this is a sign of things to come. The Linux Mint developers are also probably developing friction with Canonical, so I would say that eventually the entire Linux Mint project will move over to Debian. I also remember reading somewhere (I think it was DistroWatch) that for the next release, the live CD would be based off of Debian Live (instead of being like an Ubuntu live CD).
In any case, I'm excited to see what Linux Mint has to offer.
