From The Chief Editor's Desk...

One of our conversations towards the end of July involved discussing the distro rankings on Distrowatch. Eventually, our conversation included that time back in 2008 when PCLinuxOS was THE number one distro listed in the Distrowatch rankings.

Being #1 is a double-edged sword. On one side of the “blade,” it’s an honor to hold the top spot in the distro rankings. It’s a good way to get out word about our favorite Linux home among users of other distros. It’s a “reward” for all of the hard work that has gone into producing a stable, fast, and useful Linux distro.

But, the other edge of that same “blade” is where the real cutting occurs. What does everyone want to do to the “king of the mountain?” They want to dethrone it, hopeful that their favorite distro will supplant the “top dog” (which rarely, if ever, happens). As a result, the “top dog” in the list draws in all kinds of users who have no other agenda other than to sabotage and knock that top distro down a few pegs.

It’s easy to understand why every user of the various Linux distros want to see their favorite Linux “home” (distro) listed in the top spot on Distrowatch. But, does it really matter?

I can understand the competition between the various top-level operating systems. Most of us using PCLinuxOS are Windows refugees who grew tired of Microsoft’s narrow vision, who grew tired of paying large sums of money for software, and who grew tired of Windows being a literal virus magnet (all for several reasons). So, that competition between users of different operating systems — Linux, Windows, MacOS — is easy to understand.

What’s not so easy to comprehend is the tribalism and competition between the various Linux distros. We all are, after all, using essentially the same operating system. Yes, it’s true that there are nuances and differences (some subtle, others not so much) between how our favorite operating system works. Each “version” or distro of Linux is built differently by individuals or entities, and evokes the vision that that individual or entity has in mind for how Linux should work. PCLinuxOS users are fortunate to have Texstar, who has created our preferred Linux distro with the idea of being stable, fast, has great hardware detection, and works well as a desktop replacement for Windows (without embracing the Windows mindset).

As such, each Linux distro has a piece of its creator’s vision for what they think or feel Linux should be. But those differences are nothing to “go to war” over. If one distro doesn’t fit your needs, you move on to another one. In moving on, it’s in poor taste to disparage a distro that didn’t live up to YOUR idea of what Linux should be.

Linux has, it seems, always been about choice. You have a choice of programs. You have a choice of desktops. You have a choice of hardware. You have a choice of distro. So, yes, I think it’s safe to say that Linux is all about choice. That’s because of the at-large community that has sprung up around Linux, with input accepted from all walks of life to help shape each person’s view of what Linux should be.

And, here's the real “rub” about the Linux tribalism: it's all built around the exact same open source code base. With PCLinuxOS, for example, ideas, code, implementation plans, and configuration options are “borrowed” from just about every other Linux distro. Well, at least the ones that work. And, PCLinuxOS isn't the only Linux distro to borrow from the other distros. They all do it. It is, more or less, how open source software works. So, to criticize one distro is to potentially criticize your favorite distro.

So, do the Distrowatch “rankings” really matter all that much? Granted, users new to Linux, and existing Linux users looking for a new Linux distro to switch to (or “hop” to), will use the rankings on Distrowatch to steer their selection. But, where do those numbers come from? Well, they come from Distrowatch themselves. That’s it. There is NO scientific or statistical relevance to anything other than a count of how many times the link for a particular distro has been clicked on while a user is on the Distrowatch website. That’s it. It doesn’t tell anything else. What if users went straight to the distro’s homepage and downloaded the latest from that distro? Nope. Those numbers are not included. So, in essence, the Distrowatch “rankings” are entirely made up by Distrowatch itself, presumably just to generate web traffic. For what it’s worth, PCLinuxOS is listed at number 38 in the rankings list (as of the writing of this article). Even Ubuntu and Fedora BARELY made it into the top 10.

But, to the rest of us — those of us using PCLinuxOS — know that PCLinuxOS is #1. I know for me, it has remained my “Linux of Choice” for over 18 years, and counting. I’ve not had wanderlust for any other Linux distro. PCLinuxOS just simply meets my needs, fully.

This month’s column was “designed” by Meemaw, using Bing Image Generator. She decided to try her hand at using AI to create an image for this month’s cover. This month’s cover “celebrates” the traditional return to school from “summer vacation.” And, of course, it features Tux teaching a class of baby Tux penguins in a classroom setting.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health!