Ubuntu seems to be more of less the default desktop Linux target for most software vendors (especially Google). It keeps kernel and drivers more current, a lot of attention is paid to making desktop user experience smooth. Most likely any reasonable modern laptop hardware will fully supported out of the box. In most cases you'll be able to just add software using system package manager just like you are used to in other commercial OS.
Redhat is the largest player on Linux server market. CentOS is a free twin to RH Enterprise Linux. It is a lot more conservative. Most of the time RH explicitly and on purpose ignores desktop users. Yet, they have been around the longest and this is probably the most stable and traditional distribution. All server hardware vendors have RH in mind first. The drivers are written and tested with RH, hardware monitoring tools are for RH, etc.
I think "Oracle Linux" is a free ripoff of RHEL. I would not touch anything Oracle if you can help it at all (no helping Java situation of course). Oracle is evil, clueless, and useless. Why would anybody even mention "Oracle Linux" (WTF is "Azure"?), is beyond me. Are they crazy or just criminally stupid?
I see :) You don't have to convince MS haters, just customers :)
Ubuntu is fine for starters, you'll be fine. It's a very smooth experience these days. Good luck! :) And don't hesitate to ask (although I do not use Ubuntu myself, so probably not much help with specifics).
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-11 07:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-11 08:13 pm (UTC)Redhat is the largest player on Linux server market. CentOS is a free twin to RH Enterprise Linux. It is a lot more conservative. Most of the time RH explicitly and on purpose ignores desktop users. Yet, they have been around the longest and this is probably the most stable and traditional distribution. All server hardware vendors have RH in mind first. The drivers are written and tested with RH, hardware monitoring tools are for RH, etc.
I think "Oracle Linux" is a free ripoff of RHEL. I would not touch anything Oracle if you can help it at all (no helping Java situation of course). Oracle is evil, clueless, and useless. Why would anybody even mention "Oracle Linux" (WTF is "Azure"?), is beyond me. Are they crazy or just criminally stupid?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-11 09:37 pm (UTC)I can write a long post about why Azure is better than Amazon cloud, but it is not going to convince dedicated Microsoft haters :)
so as I said earlier, the list of linuxes/linuces in my post came from what is supported on Azure.
so based on overwhelming majority, I think I'll go with ubuntu. expect more posts with stupid questions! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-11 10:04 pm (UTC)Ubuntu is fine for starters, you'll be fine. It's a very smooth experience these days. Good luck! :) And don't hesitate to ask (although I do not use Ubuntu myself, so probably not much help with specifics).