When you look at servers, one of the most important decisions you need to make is the operating system. Typically that means choosing between Windows and Linux. However, you may choose to use a dedicated server (a server you control, with a hosting company or on your own) or co-location (using a hosting company’s data center to store your server in an ultra-secure environment). In that case, you will have a wide variety of types of Linux you can potentially explore. The same is true of your PC desktop.

Linux has all these options to choose from because it is an open-source (freely available source code) version of UNIX. UNIX, then, is the real base operating system. Linux became an incredibly popular version of UNIX, the standard for use by high-tech folks and many companies around the globe. Due to its widespread adoption and the fact that it is open source and can be manipulated as desired, a widespread array of versions has proliferated.

Perhaps the best part of Linux flavors is, in fact, not how they operate or feel but how they taste. Probably the most ridiculous comment Bill Gates ever made was when he complained that “all species of Linux taste like chicken.” He then explained that Windows tasted “like a warm blueberry muffin at one moment, like crisp roast duck the next.” Granted, he was a little inebriated when he made these comments, and it’s also possible it wasn’t him. Some guy who looked like Gates definitely said this, though.
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