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- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+78Direct link: http://desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5816278551.html
Rank and Percentages:
1. Ubuntu 29.2
2. Debian 12.2
3. openSUSE 10.1
2. (openSUSE + SLED) 13
4. Gentoo 9.6
5. Fedora 7
6. Mandriva 4.8 (including Mandrake, Lycoris, and Connectiva)
Red Hat 2.2
Linspire 1
Xandros 0.8 - negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36I find it suprising that Gentoo has more than Fedora. Not knocking on Gentoo, it's great, but I guess I thought Fedora was more popular than it actually is.
- berwiki, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Considering Ubuntu has a Debian core, I would give Debian a well deserved 41.6% of the marketplace.
cudos - technique, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35@steelmaverick
Windows is the #1 most popular desktop OS overall. Should you switch to that? My guess is no -- use what makes sense for you my friend. - webcrumb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+33Does anyone else find it a strange coincidence that openSuSE has the same percentage share as its current version number?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30@steelmaveric
Um... practical answer: Mandriva and Ubuntu are dead even at user-friendliness. Mandriva comes with three disks, four if you buy the commercial one; Ubuntu's on one disk, but has apt-get so you can snarf all you want. Mandriva's urpmi frankly is about 90% the same thing as apt-get, but the Debian archive stands forever as the most complete.
Real answer: Asking what distro you should use is like asking others advice on who you should marry. You don't want my advice; my favorite distros run to Slackware and grml. I like my distros ugly, powerful, and to be as user-friendly as a cornered rabid rat. - lukemayes, on 10/12/2007, -5/+32Shouldn't we bury this story and vote one up that has a direct link?
- anasazi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28not all distributions are designed for the desktop
- Llan, on 10/12/2007, -7/+31Shouldn't this be:
What's the most popular Linux DISTRIBUTION? - MikeCerm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16You'd really have to be celebrating your second anniversary of living in a cave if you didn't know that Ubuntu would be way out front, and who would round out the top slots.
What I do find a little surprising is the number of people who, despite Ubuntu's mainstream popularity, stilll prefer straight-up Debian. - steelmaverick, on 10/12/2007, -13/+28Seeing as how Ubuntu is the #1 desktop, according to that list, should I switch to Ubuntu?
- fyre2012, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14The most popular Desktop:
X
That is all. - Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14"I know many serious Linux users who work with Gentoo to better understand Linux, but almost no one who uses it as their first choice for day-to-day work."
Not really. Once you get a Gentoo box configured properly....it's extremely effective for day-to-day work. I currently have 2 boxes at home that I use on a regular basis running Gentoo.
Customized kernel ftw! - Xiol, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15@hosiah
"You don't want my advice; my favorite distros run to Slackware and grml. I like my distros ugly, powerful, and to be as user-friendly as a cornered rabid rat."
The word you're looking for is "flexible". Tis why I use Gentoo... - Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Yes, because I'm 100% certain you were personally installing OS's back in 1980....
- Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11@steelmaverick
Probably a little late coming, but I've tested both and found Ubuntu to be superior to Mandriva on pretty much all fronts. Especially with XGL ;p. - unhappy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9After months of struggling to install proper nvidia drivers, widescreen support & codes (+ some games) on Debian I switched to Ubuntu. Withing a month I repartition the HD and left only 10 Gigs for Windows (office & certain remote functions requiring IE) and moved completly. Whether you like it or not Ubuntu is the best thing that has happned to Linux in years. I can learn ABOUT Linux while actually USING IT.
- Justathought, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Currently, it is Ubuntu. One that is going up in popularity fast is PCLinuxOS. It has been number 3 in distrowatch the last 30 days.
I have only been using PCLinuxOS for a couple of weeks, and already I am in love with it. Way back wen, I started with Slackware, then Red Hat, then Mandrake, then SUSE 9.2 - 10.1, then I tried Kubuntu, SimplyMepis, Linspire, and finally found a home in PCLinuxOS. - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"Mod me down if you like, but that's how the rest of the world sees you"
Who's you? Linux users? How is that even a classification? That's the same as saying everyone who owns a truck is a hick. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"Yeah, I'm sure a lot of average users will just LOVE..."
That's something I've been saying we need to address. We need to draw clear lines between Joe Average systems and Power User systems. Yes, thank you, I eat man pages and compiles for breakfast. And yes, there's people who just want to use the toaster and get on with their lives. Acknowledging and labeling systems as such will eliminate all the fights over "I don't like system X because it's too difficult!" "You just don't know how to use a computer!" "Well, you're an elitist egghead!"
Put us in seperate discussion boards with signs on the front page or something. We each drive the other crazy. - Haroldx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9OS X isn't Linux.
That's FreeBSD.
Too bad they didn't have Arch on there. :(
Arch rocks!
(Gentoo suprised me, too) - colklink, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@Phocion
I thought that comment was BS too. I'm not a writer for DistroWatch and even I know several people who choose Gentoo for their "day to day" work. The install process requires some time and may make you do some reading (the online manual is practically step-by-step), but once you get it running things are very easy to manage. The portage package manager makes things very simple. God forbid we get our hands dirty in the command line! =) - Xiol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6My full time job is managing 600 Windows desktops, 13 Windows-based servers, AND 5 Gentoo-based servers.
Gentoo is a breeze to manage if properly configured and looked after. - Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is like the 500th Linux thread I've seen you trolling in a week.
Your "facts" are blatantly incorrect. You have nothing to back up your claims.
I think everyone should do themselves a favor and block you like I am. - NightRush, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Not too much of a surprise really.
- HarryBauzonia, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I have the same question.
I'm using Suse, Fedora, and Ubuntu (on three different computers) and happen to think that all three are fine. When it comes to getting work done they're exactly the same and I use the same desktop (gnome) on each one. However, while Ubuntu is easy to use, it's no easier than the other two.
I don't understand the cult following Ubuntu has. Maybe it's just trendy like buying jeans with holes already in them was. - Justathought, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5PCLinuxOS was started a while back as a fork from Mandrake. So, it is rpm based. However it uses Synaptic as its default package manager, so it is fast, and so far I haven' t had one glitch. It uses KDE as its default desktop, but you can install GNOME by installing a single package from Synaptic (gnome2). Also, there seems to be an effort currently under way to create a GNOME distro based on PCLinuxOS, but I don't know what the current state of that project is. (Check out www.pclinuxos.com/forum)
You can download the CD and use it as a live CD by booting from it. There is an Install icon on the desktop that you can use to start the installation wizard once you are convinced about it. So, give it a try. I hope you like it. - spacebar14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@SpamHater
Talk about a ***** ironic username... - Mudbeast, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Because Debian is awesome if you dont mind configuring it. You can get a "cleaner" (in my opinion) system in Debian than with Ubuntu and you can use the same OS on all your computers old and new which is nice since everything works the same. There are a lot of us geeks with 4, 5 even 6 machines and it's nice to not have to rethink how to do something from box to box.
- hockey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4In my (limited) Linux experience here is my opinion.
Gentoo is the "anti" distro. Read on to see what I mean.
Most distro's have a simple install but the day to day nuts and bolts operation is not that fluid. Gentoo is the exact opposite. Installing Gentoo is a BEAST but once it's installed the day to day operation of your box is so smooth.
Once I got over my initial hang-ups about compiling everything from source I fell in love with Gentoo and it's now my first choice of distro. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4No, seriously, modder-downs. You will not find a more ignorant writer in all of the tech world than Nichols. I wish he could get a job writing for Microsoft instead.
- ArthurSucks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's funny. Most of the Linux users I know use Linux, not Windows. Hence why they call themselves Linux users. Hrmm... Did I miss something?
- Th3_anOmoLy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm always looking for up and coming Linux OS's to throw on my old laptops and play around. I'll have to check out this PCLinuxOS you're talking about. What is it based on?
- pixelmixer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@SpamHater
Shear stupidity... 'nuff said. - tlehman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I remember Warty, and I was blown away, good looking out for ya shuttleworth!
I thought of fusing my two favs, Ubuntu and Gentoo into Ubuntoo, which would be like an optimized portage-based Ubuntu distro, that would be splendid - Mandeep, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5basically the same as distrowatch's rankings
- Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4 I concur...PCLinux is a very nice distro...That, and Linspire are my favorites so far..I still have a goodly number to try yet.
So many distros, so little time! - Xiol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I use Gentoo on my home desktop, my work laptop, and on 5 servers at work. Works beatifully, I enjoy the extreme flexibility - the servers have *nothing* more than what is necessary on them, my desktop is also lean and quite fast. The only thing that does annoy me about Gentoo are the compile times, but that's it, and it's something you have to live with for the flexibility that's offered anyway.
I did not take part in this survey! I should've done... Heh. - picaro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm guessing it is because Ubuntu installs from a single CD. It is a lot easier to hand someone a single CD instead of half a dozen.
- silvezac000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You say that Debian is better than Ubuntu. Isn't Ubuntu based on Debian. How much different can Ubuntu and Debian be.
I like Ubuntu because as a first time linux user it was just as easy as installing windows or mac(mabey even easier).Also its so free, that helps because im a broke 14 year old. - Kale, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I thought they had switched to Puppy Linux? Perhaps I'm thinking of another project.
- bigtomrodney, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I was surprised that Debian scored so highly, though not at all that Red Hat/Fedora is losing ground. I'm not sure I approve of the editorialising (OpenSUSE and SLED combining) though. There's not much point in publishing the results if you are going to undermine them.
Not at all surprised by Ubuntu taking the top. - steelmaverick, on 10/12/2007, -14/+17Hey, why am I being dugg down? I was asking a question for the opinion of my fellow diggers.
So should i switch from Mandriva to Ubuntu or not? I've been hearing alot of good things about it.... - dbk927, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I love Ubuntu... it was my first venture into the world of Linux and showed me that there was life outside of a pc/windows environment. I have a greater working knowledge of computers, OS's, and technology as a whole after setting up a dual boot Ubuntu/XP system. I used to just play around in Ubuntu and mostly use Windows, but now I stay in Ubuntu for weeks at a time almost to the exclusion of windows altogether. Other distributions seemed so intimidating and overly elite, but Ubuntu opened up a whole new world to my eyes. They're doing a great thing, and I guess some of you guys are jaded and tired of hearing about it, but I know there's loads of others like me that now understand the benefits & importance of open source and the woes of proprietary formats because one distribution finally made it easy enough to look into and think about. The people behind Ubuntu are really doing something good, they're popular for a reason, they're genuinely making a change.
- kettlechips, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'd rather get the latest apps from an online repository than have 6 CDs of outdated versions.
- levi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@r2d7
"wow ... ubuntu has 29% of the linux desktop market."
"According to thecounter.com that market is about 0.4% of desktops which means ubuntu has something like ..... 0.116% of desktops IN THE WORLD!!!!"
Windows numbers may be inflated if you take in the fact that unless you build your own PC it came with Windows. Then ask your self if Microsoft really tried to stop people from pirating Windows how would that number change. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6@steelmaverick
No what is the most popular is never the best. For instance..Internet Explorer...Outlook....MySpace....and now Ubuntu. - zetsurin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3While not having actually used Gentoo before, I have adminstered FreeBSD boxes which I believe works on the same principle in that I compile the lot from source via a ports tree. I have never seen software of any kind work so fast on the same hardware as a result. But I do concede that it is not the approach for the masses.
- PanteroBlanco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Harry
You're right, to an extent. The community and persona around Ubuntu give it a lot of appeal. I think the main reasons both Fedora and openSuSE lag behind a bit is because 1. they tend to get viewed as RedHat and SuSE's less-than-premium versions and 2. if you want detailed documentation for one of them, you're expected to get RedHat or SuSE.
Since all three are about equal in terms of getting things done, I guess I'm glad that most people are picking one to stand behind. - Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4There is absolutely nothing "special" or "better" with Ubuntu. It's just the Linux flavor of the year/"trendy". People like it for it's simplicity and ease of use.....however, sadly, the majority have never even explored other distros.
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