Will there ever be one great Linux distro to use?

[Kumann]

I tried in the last month twenty four distros. Some are very good but specific to certain uses. A few seem to be more for generic use.

Question is how can Linux compete against Windows and Mac where there are so many distros?

It's about time that some of the genius developers should come up with the super Linux distro.
Stamp out Windows, it's cancer.

[Schwarzer Kater]

To answer your question: No.

As long as people do have different needs, priorities, tastes, use cases, there will be different Linux distributions, because "we" can and "they" (macOS and Windows) cannot. This is mostly a good thing, imho.
And Linux per se does not "compete" against e.g. Windows - it is not a commercial project that has to gain market share and gain revenue in the sense e.g. Windows has to.

[claydoh]

Just 24? You better get a move on, lol!


But don't forget, Linux dominates everywhere, except for the desktop.

it is an Open Source community, driven by multiple people with no one leader deciding where things go.
This is both the plus and the minus.
You also have to realize that to quite a large group, there isn't a 'competition' with Windows and Mac at all.
it is a group of volunteers and hobbyists, at the desktop level

It's about time that some of the genius developers should come up with the super Linux distro.

And of course this very old and still relevant comic needs to be brought up:


This is why we have so many distros.
Not to mention that 2/3 of them are based on Ubuntu, and 1/4 are based on Arch, so there really are only a few distros.

Redhat/Fedora/centos et al
Arch and the roller babies
Ubuntu/Debian/and their barely warmed over clones
Suse hiding somewhere
and some tiny indie hangers-on still alive somehow (Slackware!)

So, really 4 different major system management platforms, if you will.
The rest are just to save some time and effort in installing and setting up something the way you might like.

So, out of that 24, how many are actually Ubuntu under the hood, for example?
What you are mostly doing is trying out different desktop software as much as truly different operating systems.
Once you have gotten the distro hopper phase under your belt, the one most all of us have been through, you will settle on one you like, and focus on that as a platform a bit more, and sort of understand why there are all these different distros.
A good chunk of it is simply because you can, and it is relatively speaking an easy thing to do, since all the source code as well as the code to create the distros is all out there in the open, free in most every way.

[kc1di]

The one Distro that is great is the one your using right now Enjoy the fact that in the open source world you have many choices and your choice may change over the the years.

[Qqmike]

Will there ever be one great Linux distro to use?

Absolutely. It is Kubuntu, relatively speaking for myself. IOW, absolutely relatively.
As the guys have said, it is an individual thing.

In Linux lore, there have been people who dual booted with a hundred (or maybe more) distros.
I recall doing it with a dozen or so, back in the old GRUB legacy daze.
But soon, you settle down to just one or maybe two, max.

[Qqmike]

Along the lines of something I said in #5,

A grub menu booting 100+ systems of Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris
https://forums.justlinux.com/showthr...and-Solaris

[jlittle]

A grub menu booting 100+ systems of Dos, Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris

Interested, I clicked on the link... from 2005

[Qqmike]

Yes, exactly. Most of those vintage experiments occurred way back with GRUB legacy.
My first How-TO here was a big one, on the old GRUB. It is around here somewhere, I think.

[oshunluvr]

My 2 cents: Linux is about choice and freedom. The ability of the user to choose what distro does the best for them in a given use-case and the freedom to modify any distro to their liking.

In the Microsoft/Apple world it's about NO choice or freedom. You voluntarily join the Borg, and pay out of your pocket to do so. Is it easier? Yes in many cases. Does it give you what you want? Sometimes. Does it constrain your choices? Absolutely. It's this way because Microsoft/Apple are profit driven. Giving you more choice cost them, so you pay them or vendors for software choices.

Really, the only obstacle for a Linux user is your personal knowledge. Everything is at your fingertips if you are willing to learn.

I personally use different distros for different things - although I have been solidly in the *buntu universe for quite a while now. My personal desktop (daily use) is KDEneon, My Lenovo laptop and "guest" computer (a ChromeBox with ChromeOS replaced by Linux) have Kubuntu, my headless server runs Ubuntu Server, my Raspberry Pi runs Raspbian, our tablets run ChromeOS, and for work I use CentOS and Windows 10, plus Windows 7 and 8 in VMs. My wife is still using Windows 8 Pro on her laptop buts it's for work
so she doesn't want it messed with. The parts for a new machine for her are in the workshop waiting for assembly, and it will be Kubuntu.