DebianPlanet has a surprisingly negative review of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, mostly highlighting the installation problems that keep the average user from enjoying Debian's unique advantages. “This is a critical review of Debian 3.0, but I want to say right from the start that I'm not trying to bait anyone. However I feel that reviewers often root for Debian as the open-source underdog, and give it marks which it doesn't deserve. If RedHat 8.0 came out with installation software like Debian 3.0 it would be savaged. I think it's time for an honest review, to spur the Debian developers into making the best possible distribution. I really want Debian to succeed. I want to use it daily, and recommend it to my friends. But I can't do that right now and I think it's important people understand why.”
“I think people should get together and form a DebianDesktop group, committed to creating a package which will install several different themes, configurations and menus. People can be asked near the end of the install if they would like their desktop customised - if they answer yes, this package could be installed. Similarly work should be done on intelligent installers and hardware auto-detection (though the latter is obviously going to be especially difficult for a multi-platform system). The priority should be the simple installer though, hardware detection can wait.”