Top Five Best Linux Distros

I've read I don't know how many "best" lists that are really nothing more than personal preference limited by what the author has tried or lists tied to popularity rather than real quality. When such articles show up on LXer I either skip them or have very low expectations. I also am more than a little tired of some author or another proclaiming their distro of choice perfect (none is) or best based on their preference again.

This little piece by Christine Hall finally tells it like it is. Brava! There is no best.

Best is through the eyes of the person using it so all top 5 lists etc are going to show some bias.

I find top five distro type lists mildly interesting to read but they aren't going to sway my decision when picking a distro.

If I let popularity contests sway me then I'd have been using Slackware years ago. Those guys are like Jehovah's witnesses. Whenever somebody on Reddit asks "which distro should I use?" (asked at least 5 times a day) there is always a number of instant responses that say Slackware without even asking potentially relevant questions like "What is your computing background?", "How interested are you in getting your hards dirty and exploring the command line?", "What spec is your computer?", "What do you mainly use your computer for?".

I would agree with caitlyn, and this says it all:

"Just keep in mind, there really isn’t a best Linux distro, or even a list of five best Linux distros. There’s only a best distro for you, the job you need it to do and the equipment on which you need it to operate."

Indeed.

As I usually do, I agree with both Caitlyn and Larry.

We all need to find our own best distro (and all the "best" things that go into it like filesystems, desktop environments, applications, utilities ...)

I think this whole "best distro" thing is highly over rated. These days mostly all of the major distributions allow you to piece together your optimal combination of parts.

- You pick your favorite desktop.

- You pick your favorite filesystem.

- You pick your favorite combination of applications.

- You put up your own favorite backgrounds, and assorted eye candies.

So my favorite distribution is any one of the many that support such flexibility to mix and match and customize.