Hardware compatibility, ease of use, the size of a software repository. These three attributes are unique to each Linux distribution. But at the same time, each Linux distribution is at liberty to take and mix whatever it wants from any other.

This creates a rather unique situation, where good ideas quickly spread, and bad ones fail. And as a result, there are dozens of distribution updates each month, hundreds each year, in a race to leap-frog the each other in the race to the top of the DistroWatch.com charts.

This is why the answer to the question, of which distribution is best for you, changes with the tides, and why we're keen to keep on top of distribution developments. What follows is our recommendations for this year, split by typical users. Try them yourself. They're all free.