And you you should have replaced rysnc/rdist with something more secure like scp/sftp.

Upate:

Ooops! I was thinking "rcp" when I read "rsync". I agree that it can be made secure. In fact Using Rsync and SSH disccuses how to use it with SSH.

I see from the rdist homepage that it has also come a long way. However as they point out many operating systems ship with a much older, insecure version. So I guess Linux users are more familair with the newer version while those of us used to e.g. Solaris are used to the older version. Looks like it is one of those things that one needs to be careful of recommending given the wide audience.

I will point out that it looks like both rsync and rdist make use of SSH for better security. So I think my original comment still has validity.