Perhaps the one with the most desktop users.
I personally need stability, since I’m developing stuff, so I go with CentOS.
But the trade off is in things like browser. There are only certain versions of Firefox that CentOS is certified with.
Now with HTML5 rolling out, my Firefox is looking a bit long in the tooth (they crank out new versions like mad).
There are basic plugins, mostly the one you care about is watching videos, and I’m running out of time with my Firefox version. But I can only upgrade to a Firefox version that is certified to work with my CentOS 5.
And checking it all out takes time, so I don’t bother for long stretches (years). Then finally I’ll go and poke around and find out what the latest things are and plan and execute an upgrade.
I can’t be without a browser completely, of course, and I hate to lose functionality that I have. If one just jumps in and starts upgrading willy nilly one can get into a bad position where functionality is lost, since frequently things get broken by new development. Then one has to either go through trying to get back to the old working versions of things, or wait until developers get around to fixing the broken functionality.
CentOS 6 is just coming out, so I’m not too crazy on going to that yet, it’s too new.
All this actually effects every distro. It’s be over a decade since I used suse; I don’t know any details of other distros. But even so I’d hesitate to call any distro - or any operating system, for that matter - “simple”, to the point of just slap it in and go start connecting to the world without exploring the whole installation and knowing what I’ve got running and how it’s configured.
Users who are concerned about fast video performance to the point where they want to actually use the video chip in their computer... need to do some digging to find out if their chip is supported and then verify that it is being used. Otherwise, like me and my Dell, graphics display will all be done in software, i.e., only use the CPU insteading of gaining performance by offloading graphics processing to the video acceleration hardware. Mine works fast enough for me, i.e., I can see videos, I just don’t crank up the resolution because I don’t want my CPU running at more than 20% for extended periods of time. I’m more concerned with making my PC last, i.e., avoiding overheating.
I always start from the “top down”, i.e., I make a list of what I (or the user) wants to actually do. From this I get what applications then are needed, from there keep working down to the details, i.e., lower layers of software, hardware, etc.
Just general browsing, email, office, an off the shelf PC has plenty of power, it’s just the security that is the big concern.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nmap
is a key tool; it supports various platforms.
Regardless of one’s linux distro, there will be services/daemons running; to be secure one must avoid leaving service “doors” open, in addition to practicing safe browsing and safe email use. Safe/paranoid admin practices are far preferable to installing any kind of anti-virus software (which people then typically implicitly trust to handle everything and stop thinking about security).
Wow, lots of info there, and appreciated..
Personally, I buy (AMD) ‘overclocking’ hardware, yet I never overclock... Hardware lasts A LOT longer...
Obviously (to me at least), Brand names down’t always count :/ one of the issues I had that made me lose more than 4 Terra of encrypted data was/were 3 of my DDR3 sticks failed at almost all at the same time :/ (Corsair).. went from 16 gig to 4 gig instantly :(
If I were back in the states, I could go directly to the company, and they would be replaced.. sometimes getting an even better deal. BUT, being here in Japan, any “apology” for the failure is non-existant :p
Well, I have over-extended my text time... feel guilty as a dog getting a bone since I fell asleep on the keyboard while hot-mic (on a chat site)... one of these days I will KNOW not to go online after work :P (btw, came online after work after 12am here... found out there were no busses running.. and no $$$ for a taxi >.<. was a LONG walk home, about 6Km, what is that, about 4 miles?! with a LARGE amount of snow I haven’t seen in the 16 years I have been here.. darn “””””GLOBULL WARMING””””””).. :/
Thank you. Your points are all well taken.
My policy with any unix/Linux OS is to turn off all services and block all ports then selectively enable those that I need to use for that particular host. I also, even with WinBlows, block all automatic upgrades. I have been burned far too many times by ill-timed and ill-conceived upgrades.
I have/use Nmap extensively. It is a part of any side job I do. As I mentioned, in a past life I was a unix admin. I still have a few clients that I do server work for.
As far as CentOS 6. It’s not too bad, now, even at launch. I installed an early release for a client - and yes, I’ve had to fix it repeatedly.... but now it is fairly stable.