title: What is the difference between miniconda and miniforge?
body: <p>The <a href="https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge" rel="noreferrer">miniforge</a> installer is a relatively new, community-led, minimal conda installer that (as it says in its readme) "can be directly compared to Miniconda, with the added feature that conda-forge is the default channel".</p>
  
  <p>It is unclear what is different between miniforge and Miniconda, or what the miniforge use case is.</p>
  
  <p>If miniforge is the same as Miniconda except it just uses the <code>conda-forge</code> channel by default, why create a whole different installer - why not just use miniconda and add <code>conda-forge</code> as the first channel to use in <code>~/.condarc</code>?</p>
  
  <p>If miniforge is different from Miniconda, what is different about the two?</p>