> Dells and HPs of the world didn't recognize it [Debian] because it was not a company.

IIRC Debian maintainers formed companies for that reason.

I was a Debian user because it suited me. It was obvious (to me at the time) that suits were going to choose RedHat, and we ran it a bit to have experience.

How wrong I was. Ubuntu made Debian every bit as much as a "choice of the suits" as Redhat.