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The Big Three

    It is bewildering for linux newcomers.  The number of linux distributions or distros will make the head of ordinary mortals spin.  People in various linux fora ask which distro they should try first.  The answer will depend on who you're asking.  Linux users have their own pet distros, their own personal experience with a particular flavor of linux.  If you are starting your journey in the land of Linux and open source operating systems, I would advice that you consider the big three in the world of linux namely:  Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSuse.

    Ubuntu is based on Debian.  It is currently the most popular linux distro out there resulting in a big community of users and developers.  Although Ubuntu is a community distro it is backed by a private company, Canonical.  It comes out with a brand new release every 6 months. 

    Fedora is a community distribution backed by Red Hat, a Fortune 500 company but is also an open source entity.  It also releases a new version every 6 months.  Most Linux bloggers agree that Fedora is one of the bleeding edge distro available free for download. 

    OpenSuse is a free linux distro backed by Novell.  Novell is another open source company offering support subscriptions on their software. 

    All three offer customer or end user support through the forum.  All three have extensive documentations for every release.  All three have proven track records that they can deliver a consistent and regular release as promised.  All three companies that backs these distros abide by open source rules of free and open software. 

    I have all three installed in my machines at home and though I am using Ubuntu as my everyday distro, my user experience with all of them have been positive. 
   

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