[happyjack]

I run RHEL 7 desktop, because it's what my vendors support (scientific / engineering desktop applications, simulators). I'm about to get a new Thinkpad, and highly considering running Fedora because packages on it weren't written in 2002 (sarcasm) and use it side by side to my RHEL 7 dekstop, even if some of my work applications won't run on it.

Linus is completely correct, though. I think the open source world has gotten way to mixed up with the "free" world. I understand that gcc and some of the HUGE packages are free and open source. They are cost shared by companies and have many people that use them and are maintained well. But other packages with small user bases? His dive example was perfect. Unless someone uses it personally, how can you expect to maintain it unless you pay for it? Or, if the software is paid, how can you expect the company to maintain it for Linux, when their user base is going to be for Mac / Windows?

I think Ubuntu LTS is the most sane approach I've seen. You can get relatively new packages in a pretty stable environment. It's not RHEL stable, and Canonical is starting to care less and less about desktop Linux, but it's not too bad. Ubuntu needs Vanilla gnome option by default, though. Their default look is horrendous. I know I know, it's Linux, you can customize it! Why should I have to waste my time?