hen it comes to Linux, there is no one size fits all answer. But, unlike other desktop operating systems, Linux doesn’t try to squeeze you into a system’s that’s too large or too small. Instead, Linux offers a wide variety of distributions and one of them is likely be the right one for you.

Linux, you see, is a family of operating systems. They share the same father, but each distribution has its own personality and its own audience. For example, if you really wanted to, you can have a Linux distribution that looks and act like Windows XP, but which underneath its Microsoft-like surface is actually running Ubuntu Linux. Or, if that doesn’t strike your fancy, you can always make the popular Ubuntu distribution into a Mac OS X look-alike.

Better still, you can find a Linux that will do what you want it to do. After all, despite silly tales of how you have to be some kind of technical wizard who chants “awk, grep, sed” at a shell command prompt to use Linux, anyone can run Linux these days. The default Linux desktop KDE or GNOME graphical interfaces may not look quite like the ones you’re used to but they’re every bit as easy to use and as powerful. Yes, once in a blue moon you may need to modify a configuration file by hand, but you’ll need to do it no more often than a Windows user has to do the exact same kind of thing with the regedit command.

The real question isn’t, “Can I run Linux?” It’s “which Linux is best for me?” Here’s my guide to help you find the right one for you.

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