Enterprise Open Source Directory – Operating Systems
Debian
One of the few really long established Linux distributions, well known for stability and its curated repository of thousands of software packages, it has formed the basis of more Linux distributions than any other.
Capable of a stable configuration that updates and remains stable. Also easy to selectively use newer packages.
Used by many large institutions, with an extensive community of users and developers, well documented, with support readily available.
With a broad developer base and not dependent on any corporate sponsor or owner, change of ownership cannot occur nor vendor lock-in.
Ubuntu
Based on Debian, Ubuntu refreshes it repositories from Debian every six months.
Ubuntu has done a great deal to popularize Linux. And has made some excellent server versions, especially the 10.04 long term support release. But recent focus on consumer appeal and a proprietary interface raise doubts about business suitability and support. The next long term support release coming April 2012 will answer some questions.
SUSE
Not quite as long established as Debian, but the oldest commercial distribution.
The free community distribution openSUSE strikes a nice balance, not cutting edge like Red Hat’s Fedora, but instead stable yet current, with readily available support.
SUSE and openSUSE have the most extensive graphical administration tools.
Red Hat
Well known with a large installed base and good stability, but subscription fees make it expensive.
Fedora
Red Hat’s free community distribution used for testing and experimenting. Not as unstable as it once was, but still not recommended for enterprise work.
CentOS
A free clone of Red Hat.
With version 6 Red Hat changed the packaging of their source code which delayed the release of CentOS 6 by most of a year. Though it has a large installed base, the small number of developers raises doubts about its ability to keep current with Red Hat source and suitability for long-term deployment.
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