>>46
It differs by user, but here's why I favour it (no specific order):
* It's fairly conservative, yet not insanely so. Net result is stability and security without being too far behind the curve. Debian was really cursed in this regard before they sped up their cycles.
* The filesystem layout is default. This has several benefits, like not needing --prefix, software being found where it's normally expected, fewer conflicts due to unusual paths, paths getting uglified if you do a source install, being able to find help on the Internet more easily, etc.
* Related to both above: it doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. Take Debian or SuSE, for example: they do all sorts of strange things to config files. What they do to Apache in particular is a pet peeve of mine, where they both split the file into several (each differently) and do wonky things with them. Thanks, but no.
* Mixing packages and source-compiles doesn't introduce conflicts. I've had problems when I've had to do custom compiles of software on other distros, because most package systems are amazingly stupid when it comes to external software. They're an all-or-nothing deal. Working around them is something I can do without. The drawback with Slackware is it won't protect you from yourself; you'd better know what you're doing.
* Minimalist install with whatever you want on top. There are very few
required packages, so it's easy to vary from tens of megabytes to multi-gig. This comes in handy, particularly with older hardware. I've done the whole gamut, and due to the way the init system is set up it scales quite well.
* Nicer init system. Trivial, but there's this.
* Nice install system. Again, trivial, but some distros can't be installed with stdout redirected to a serial port or something equally unusual.
Generally, Slackware doesn't get in my way, while other distributions do. This is the key point.
The problem with most distributions seems to be that they're trying to anticipate and solve problems for me, but they consistently backfire. Instead of KISS they have this Not Invented Here syndrome. This
doesn't help.
Anyway, I hope that gives a general idea of where I'm coming from. Slackware isn't perfect, not even close (for example, automated detection of devices is... a bit thin), and it's definitely not for the majority of people (are you an actual sysadmin?), but it is for me.