Linux.com Announces The Best Linux Distros for 2017 (linux.com)

Friday Linux.com published their list of "what might well be the best Linux distributions to be found from the ever-expanding crop of possibilities... according to task." Here's their winners (as chosen by Jack Wallen), along with a short excerpt of his analysis.

• Best distro for sysadmins : Parrot Linux. "Based on Debian and offers nearly every penetration testing tool you could possibly want. You will also find tools for cryptography, cloud, anonymity, digital forensics, programming, and even productivity."
• Best lightweight distribution: LXLE. "Manages to combine a perfect blend of small footprint with large productivity."
• Best desktop distribution: Elementary OS "I'm certain Elementary OS Loki will do the impossible and usurp Linux Mint from the coveted 'best desktop distribution' for 2017."
• Best Linux for IoT: Snappy Ubuntu Core "Can already be found in the likes of various hacker boards (such as the Raspberry Pi) as well as Erle-Copter drones, Dell Edge Gateways, Nextcloud Box, and LimeSDR."
• Best non-enterprise server distribution: CentOS. "Since 2004, CentOS has enjoyed a massive community-driven support system."
• Best enterprise server distribution: SUSE. "Don't be surprised if, by the end of 2017, SUSE further chips away at the current Red Hat market share."

Wallen also chose Gentoo for "Best distribution for those with something to prove," saying "This is for those who know Linux better than most and want a distribution built specifically to their needs... a source-based Linux distribution that starts out as a live instance and requires you to then build everything you need from source." And surprisingly, he didn't mention his own favorite Linux distro, Bodhi Linux, which he describes elsewhere as "a melding of Ubuntu and Enlightenment".

Comments

Re:Does it really matter? Its market share is too

[NotInHere]

That's the desktop market share. On servers, Linux is market leader, and in IOT, its > 90%.

CentOS is an enterprise OS

[Anonymous Coward]

CentOS is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux without Red Hat support contract. You still get the same updates from RHEL, though usually 2-3 weeks later. A lot of big companies don't care for support (since they can deal with it in-house) and use CentOS which is free.

Re:Best Linux Distro

[sg_oneill]

Best Linux Distro for people who just want to get stuff done: Linux Mint

Yeah I'm pretty much of the same mind. Debian for my servers and Mint for my desktop. I do prefer debians more stripped back but-with-options server chops, its familiar and I like it. But mint is a desktop setup that just works and doesnt have ubuntus baffling UI.