Best Linux Distribution

The distribution category has similar results as last year, but it shows a trend. Other distributions, many still based on Ubuntu, are sneaking up the ladder. In fact, next year we'll have to break out the different official brands of Ubuntu, because if they were separated, I suspect the finalists would look a bit different. For that matter, if we lumped all the Debian-based distributions together, the spread would be huge between first and second place!

  • Ubuntu (any flavor, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, etc.): 30.1%

  • Debian: 14.7%

  • Linux Mint: 13.4%

  • Arch Linux: 10%

  • Fedora: 8.6%

  • OpenSUSE: 4.2%

  • Gentoo: 3.8%

  • CentOS: 3.3%

  • Other: 3.1%*

  • Slackware: 2.5%

  • Red Hat: 1.9%

  • PCLinuxOS: 1.5%

  • MEPIS: .7%

  • Bodhi Linux: .5%

  • Novell/SUSE: .3%

  • Pardus: .3%

  • Sabayon: .3%

  • Mandriva: .2%

  • Puppy: .2%

  • Chrome OS: .1%

  • Slitaz: .1%

*Mageia had the most write-in votes.