To quickly review our previous discussion, we are discussing the different types of Linux. Linux, along with Windows, is one of the two basic operating systems used on servers. It’s also used on personal desktops, though not nearly as frequently (meaning it’s a tiny percentage of consumer use). The basis for that is because IT folks appreciate the control, freedom, and security Linux allows – like any open-source software, its source code is accessible and changeable – so they build it into networks.

Because the source code is changeable, it invites experimentation, in a similar way to a chef who learns the basic recipes of other chefs and then elaborates on them to concoct his own version. Linux in this way is unlike Microsoft code, which is, for better (one simple standard) and worse (lack of access and freedom) inaccessible (well, sorta) and unmanipulable (legally speaking). Standardization with Microsoft allows one efficient and predictable taste. Experimentation with Linux allows manifold community recipes.

Linux is delicious—so delicious, in fact, that some people can’t get enough, even if it’s awkward to pull out the OS and get a brief blast to the tastebuds. A key example is when Bill Gates was riding a glass elevator with me in Chicago, Illinois. He suddenly started speaking rapidly into a microsensor on his arm, “Open Linux Mint. Must feel something. Sixteen-year-old virtual reality overlord removing my feeling code. My love for Cinnamon Bun is dying. Sad Bill. Where are my pills?” Though Cinnamon Bun was his dog, it did not appear that his arm heard him, or that he was the real Bill Gates.
Continue reading Many Different Flavors of Linux: A Look at Distros & How They Taste – Part 3 →