I'm about to that point as well .. just wish there weren't 148,000 flavors for the relatively uninitiated to have to wade through.
If egos (or whatever) could be set aside and some standardization made a priority, one or a few flavors of Linux could probably kick MS's corporate ass.
an aging boy can dream ..
The differences are in aesthetics, and package management--though that getting down to 2-4 different methods now.
A good place to start IMHO is the recommended Linux distributions at https://prism-break.org/en/
That site lists a handful of distros based on their security but mention is also made of their ease of use, etc.
A big thing for me was to be able to use a number of Windows applications that I really rely on and for which there are no Linux equivalents. Wine has saved the day there. So far, the only app that doesn't work is one ham radio program. For any others, there's a Linux compatible equivalent.
Of course, half of the fun is trying out the various versions to see which one has the right "feel."
You can make your own Linux too. You can add the software you want and remove the software you don’t want.
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org and http://susestudio.com/ (your own flavor of openSUSE linux)