The title was, for the record, "What's your favorite desktop Linux distribution". And here lies the issue I had with the writers copy/pasting the top choices from DistroWatch, as the options given were not specifically "desktop linux".
As to your comment. Just because you can install X11, a WM/DE doesn't make a distro "desktop oriented", theoretically you can run any and every Linux distro as a desktop.
However, a "Desktop oriented linux distro" means that the project makes its goal to be ran on personal computers as a "desktop".
This means, usually that you make certain to have a simple, graphic install process (or even better, a "live CD") to make it friendly to non-technical users. You need to support as many different hardware configuration that is found at the personal market which has a large variance and rely on hardware support for audio/video unlike a server.
Deliver a full "desktop" UX by either customizing an existing DE (like Fedora does) or creating their own (Ubuntu Unity, Mint) and have many applications out of the box or easily available for Office, and personal use.
It's not "Taste", it's project goals. You can run a server on Fedora and run CentOS on your desktop, however, those are not the respective projects' goals.
And while TrueOS is very much "Desktop Oriented" it is most definitely not a "Linux Distro", and neither is ReactOS.
What I loved about the poll is the absolute amateurism this site displayed in making them. Copy pasting the top "distros" from DistroWatch, throwing them into the poll and tacking "What desktop distro do you prefer" as the headline.
Readers found themselves looking at non-desktop oriented distros such as CentOS, FreeBSD derivative TrueOS and even ReactOS, a re-implementation of Windows.
These polls screamed "whomever made this list either have no clue or doesn't care". Neither option puts opensource.com in a favorable light.
The title was, for the record, "What's your favorite desktop Linux distribution". And here lies the issue I had with the writers copy/pasting the top choices from DistroWatch, as the options given were not specifically "desktop linux".
As to your comment. Just because you can install X11, a WM/DE doesn't make a distro "desktop oriented", theoretically you can run any and every Linux distro as a desktop.
However, a "Desktop oriented linux distro" means that the project makes its goal to be ran on personal computers as a "desktop".
This means, usually that you make certain to have a simple, graphic install process (or even better, a "live CD") to make it friendly to non-technical users. You need to support as many different hardware configuration that is found at the personal market which has a large variance and rely on hardware support for audio/video unlike a server.
Deliver a full "desktop" UX by either customizing an existing DE (like Fedora does) or creating their own (Ubuntu Unity, Mint) and have many applications out of the box or easily available for Office, and personal use.
It's not "Taste", it's project goals. You can run a server on Fedora and run CentOS on your desktop, however, those are not the respective projects' goals.
And while TrueOS is very much "Desktop Oriented" it is most definitely not a "Linux Distro", and neither is ReactOS.