[dvanduzer]

Every organization's needs are different. A large operation like Heroku has a large server footprint, but a very uniform build. A large operation like General Electric might have a large server footprint, but with all sorts of bizarre business requirements that you or I couldn't even imagine.

(I spent the first half of my career in the ISP business.) If I see something as an infrastructure cost that scales slowly but surely, I want a standard distro package wherever I can get one. Sometimes you're in an environment where you've got extremely specific vendor-or-client-imposed requirements, and the best you can hope to do is standardize your configuration / deployment process.

I've had environments where I cared more about CPAN or PyPI than yum or apt (or RHN or roll your own). If I have N00 servers doing the same thing or N00 servers doing a variety of things, the answer shifts.