This release has been in development for approximately 18 months, and has been extensively tested by several thousand developers and end-users. It is developed by roughly 500 voluntees from all over the world who collaborate via the Internet. Debian's dedication to free software, its non-profit nature, and its open development model make it unique among Linux distributions. Packages for all architectures are built from the same source packages.
European languages are also better supported, with more and better translations to more languages.
The Debian Project has always hoped to serve as a base for more specialised distributions, and in the past year this goal has been realized, with the adoption of the Debian system as a basis for commercial Linux distributions. Only now is the Debian Project realizing the extent of his dedication, and the friendship he bestowed upon us.