The best version of Linux in your opinion

What is the best version of Linux in your opinion and why?

I use ubuntu and I don't bother with Windows at all anymore. I dual-booted for maybe 6 months and by then I was far enough up the learning curve that anything I wanted to do, I could do in linux.

There are basically two good user-friendly linuxes: Debian-based, and Red Hat-based. Both make it easy to install stuff by using a GUI-based package system. Lots of other distros use one or the other system, though in fact it is easy to use both since the "alien" program converts packages between the two types.

Ubuntu uses the Debian (.deb) system. Fedora uses the Red Hat (.rpm) system. And no matter which one you use, you will use apt-get from terminal quite a bit, too.

I like Ubuntu because it has the most user-to-user support. It has an international, worldwide theme, and a lot of people using it. Linux progresses by the actions of trailblazers, intrepid hackers who figure out how to to something then tell everyone else how to follow. Ubuntu's forums are a rich source of information on how to do practically anything that has been done in linux. Whatever you want to do, it is likely that someone has done it before in ubuntu, and posted exactly how in the forums.

For this same reason, ubuntu is a very good choice for someone new to linux. There are plenty of places where you can ask noob questions and not get laughed at. You'll have a functional desktop, menu and window environment right after install, and most things will be easy to do right off the bat.

>edit< Gentoo is a mighty fast linux to install on a ps3, that's for sure. Installing ubuntu on a ps3 used to involve installing Gentoo first, then downloading ubuntu ppc.
It's extremely configurable, but since that involves having to compile everything you install, it's not good for a first distro