Shane from Distro of the Month posted an interesting comment about the different “flavours” of Linux.

Now, we at Distro of the Month have a vested interest in reminding people that there are more than just one or two distros. We ship a different one each and every month. It is important to remember that unlike Windows, Linux isn’t just a one manufacturer operating system. There are many different manufacturers out there with many different products. That’s why we are here. To introduce our subscribers to as many different products as possible. The idea is that the more Linux products that you try, the more you will learn Linux as a whole. And the more you learn Linux, the more you will like it.

And I must say I agree. As I said in a comment on his blog, one of the strengths of Linux is the variety of distros and how you can get them designed for all manner of purposes – including fully fledged ones taking up less than 50mb. That this variety is then all brought together under a common architecture really does make Linux stand out.

If you are not a linux convert already but are interested in trying it out you could do worse than checking out FrozenTech’s Live CD list at – http://www.livecdlist.com/. Live CD’s are versions of Linux that you can download (as an ISO file) burn to disk and then run from the CD (or DVD). They contain all the tools etc., that you would get with the OS but provide a way for you to try it out without risking any of your current data (and without messing about repartititioning hard disks etc).

One excellent use for LiveCDs is for system utility disks that you can use in the event of your windows installation going belly up.