Why should someone use Debian over another distribution?

I think the reason I run Debian rather than anything else is because its as true to the Unix philosophy as it can get: each of the system components does what it should, does that as well as it can, and otherwise keeps out of your way. Nothing on the system happens without your consent. And because everything is designed with little pieces building on top of each other, it's easy to keep an overview. This directly translates into manageability and security. In other words, you control the system, and not the other way around"

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This was the reply given by Martin.F.Krafft, the author of the best selling book "The Debian System" in an interview with Sal Cangeloso when this question was posed to him. The interview also touched on topics on various other aspects of the Debian system like the importance of Debian policy to the final product, the path the author would like to see Debian adopt in the future and many more.

The questions have been well thought out and the replies are quite insightful which makes reading the whole interview a worthwhile exercise.