If you've never used Debian don't rip on it. Okay, convince me. Okay, convince me. It has around 400 volunteer mantainers. It is guaranteed that bugs will pop out much less frequently than on redhat.
Package management is superior to rpm.
Just type apt-get install wmaker in your root prompt. It will determine the dependencies and will download and install all stuff that you need. You can even upgrade the whole system with just 2 apt commands. System maintainance is a snap. Unlike rpm, dpkg also gives you a choice between the 4 or 5 most common sendmail setups for example.