Thanks for the post, I wanted to try Debian on my main desktop, but alas, couldn't make the wifi dongle work (I found the solution for Mint, so I eventually installed LM), however, I am still eyeing Debian for two things you've mentioned...the philosophy and the stability. As I use my comps to do work, I am not looking for a frequent distro-hopping (how different would using Libre Office would be on an Xth distro, right?), so stability is a main factor. That being said, I am also very satisfied with Mint itself.