On servers, distros that has sane defaults and do not force one to configure every little piece of software is clearly "winning" over the more old ways of compile and configure. Back when BSD was the normal OS for servers, distros like Debian really showed the way that sane defaults was way superior than to the no defaults policy some had.
Thankfully we have moved away from the no defaults. Some places still need to see the benefits first hand, but universally, the old policy that said one should have no defaults is long gone. Those that previously had no defaults have mostly moved to the same style as Debian.
Thankfully we have moved away from the no defaults. Some places still need to see the benefits first hand, but universally, the old policy that said one should have no defaults is long gone. Those that previously had no defaults have mostly moved to the same style as Debian.