This really depends. Some examples where the number one choice is IMO justified:
- ZFS. There are other filesystems that provide checksumming, CoW, etc. but ZFS is a proven solution in this space. I am happy work on BRTFS and bcache continues but they are not yet there.
- Debian. There are distros that do things better and differently but nobody has quite as smooth an experience, hardware support, security, and software availability all in one package. Alternatives are really good so it really says something about Debian that it is as popular as it is.
- ssh. There are some alternatives but when was the last time you heard an argument made in their favor?
I could go on but hopefully I’ve made my point. Sometimes the standard choice is the right now. And yes I know me picking Debian as a good distro can start a flame war :)
- ZFS. There are other filesystems that provide checksumming, CoW, etc. but ZFS is a proven solution in this space. I am happy work on BRTFS and bcache continues but they are not yet there.
- Debian. There are distros that do things better and differently but nobody has quite as smooth an experience, hardware support, security, and software availability all in one package. Alternatives are really good so it really says something about Debian that it is as popular as it is.
- ssh. There are some alternatives but when was the last time you heard an argument made in their favor?
I could go on but hopefully I’ve made my point. Sometimes the standard choice is the right now. And yes I know me picking Debian as a good distro can start a flame war :)