Distrowatch.com top 10 Linux distroes

[clevin]

1. Ubuntu
2. openSUSE
3. Fedora
4. Debian
5. Mandriva
6. PCLinuxOS
7. MEPIS Linux
8. KNOPPIX
9. Slackware Linux
10. Gentoo Linux


11. FreeBSD

http://distrowatch.com/major

 

[mkrishnan]

Ubuntu's rise has truly been phenomenal. They should be very proud of what they've accomplished.

One thing that I've never completely understood is why a linux distro with WINE preconfigured has never taken off, and why that's not really available on any major distro.

 

[clevin]

Ubuntu's rise has truly been phenomenal. They should be very proud of what they've accomplished.

One thing that I've never completely understood is why a linux distro with WINE preconfigured has never taken off, and why that's not really available on any major distro.

it might sounds idealism, but wine is a project that many linux users practically enjoy, while morally dislike, because it "discourages developers to work on linux platform". So wine is practically in every linux distro's repositories, but never makes into pre-installation stage.

 

[mkrishnan]

I do understand what you're saying. The same argument is often made in the reverse direction for letting developers from the OSS community rely on X11 in OS X.

I think, where the OS X situation and the Linux situation differ, is that there is no pipeline for major commercial software (iTunes being one of the most prominent examples) being completely circumventable for casual users without using Windows binaries.

 

[clevin]

business software developers sure have their own calculation, they won't make major effort for negligible rewards. If it weren't for the dominate market share of windows, apple won't make iTunes for windows.

But once (atho very difficult) u pass those major apps, (M$ office, photoshop, 3D max, etc, etc), Linux/Mac/Windows aren't that much different as far as what user can do is concerned. actually, linux would be better since it totally free and has many advanced features.

IMHO, availability of wide range of apps is the decisive factor of mass market share, for end user. while for commercial software developers, its just the opposite....

 

[mkrishnan]

Agreed...when I look at Ubuntu as is now, basically the only things it doesn't have that I need are some particularly advanced stats software (OS X also doesn't have the particular thing I need), the ability to play DRM'd iTunes content, and easy-to-use bluetooth support for peripherals and PIM syncing. That's grown to be a fairly small list, and I'm a fairly demanding user.

 

[KurtangleTN]

Isn't BSD another branch of Unix, different then Linux?

Not shocking #1, I had #2 for months, but really felt that it's just a pain in the ass do anything, and just went back to windows on my PC.

 

[72930]

iTunes on Linux would be great for my loves-windows-hates-Ubuntu-only because of iTunes-friend

 

[mkrishnan]

Isn't BSD another branch of Unix, different then Linux?

Yes, it is -- FreeBSD is a sort of guest honorary mention on their list because it is not a Linux distribution.