Fedora Linux vs. openSUSE Leap vs. Ubuntu

For experimental use, test lab situations, or very special-purpose tasks, Fedora [Linux] is an excellent choice. We are almost exclusively a CentOS shop for our production stuff, but in labs, we take more risks with things like Ubuntu or Fedora. It's not as appropriate as CentOS for production level endeavors, but it lets us know "this is where we could be going" when we engage in r&d tasks.

Incentivized

OpenSUSE Leap is well suited for just about any Linux task. Especially I like to use it as Docker base image for my software deployments, because it has a wide variety of software packages available already precompiled and packages are well maintained - vulnerable software versions are patched in reasonable time. OpenSUSE Leap is rpm based system, and it wouldn't install Debian or other systems packages. If your software is not an rpm package then OpenSUSE Leap would not be suitable for your system.

If somebody whishes to be an IT professional, learning the basics of Linux is amust. Ubuntu [Linux] is one of the most beginner-friendly, widely supported, easy-to-use-relative-to-the-fact-that-its-still-linux OS on the market. As somebody who learned the basics of UNIX/LINUX on Ubuntu, it was a very good experience. It is customizable, has a lot of improvements over the years, and live up to be a viable alternative to any modern OS in 2021 as well.

Incentivized

• frequent updates
• DNF as the package manager
• strong focus on security

Incentivized

• Maintenance of software packages using YAST
• Availability of patches when a vulnerability is discovered
• Distribution upgrades

• PACKAGE MANAGEMENT. You can update everything - OS installed software, you name it with either a few clicks in a GUI or a single command.
• No bloatware.
• No need for antivirus software.
• Certainly the price is right.
• My 83 year old grandmother has been using it - and because of this I rarely need to provide tech support. But I still visit my grandmother.
• You can choose from a variety of user interfaces or rock it in the terminal.
• Generally speaking, Ubuntu is as polished an OS as any you might pay for.

Incentivized

• Stability. It's good, but it's not anything like CentOS for stability
• End-user usability. It has a few glaring holes here and there with UI/UX

Incentivized

• Commercial packages not always available
• Stable packages sometimes lag behind the latest releases

Incentivized

• The repository system could be a little better, as some of the software needed is not easily available there.
• Ubuntu sometimes does not play nicely or easily with some modern firmwares.
• Some people report slow responses with newer versions of Ubuntu, although we have not experienced any.

Incentivized

While it works, we're finding that SNAP is getting more and more annoying, so we're probably going to migrate to Debian.

Incentivized

This is a personal preference based on working with hundreds of client projects, I prefer Ubuntu over Fedora Linux.

Incentivized

I gave it 10 out of 10 because it allows me to do the work I need on a server, such as running a website and database, and making developments. In addition, thanks to its easy and useful interface during installation, it can be easily installed. In addition, thanks to its easily accessible documents, when a problem occurs, it can be solved easily and quickly.

Incentivized

We did not use the managed commercial support, but instead relied on community forums and official documentation. Ubuntu is very well documented across both instructional documentation from the developers themselves as well as informal support forums [ServerFault, YCombinator, Reddit]. It's easy enough to find an answer to any question you may have

Incentivized

It was all pretty much automatic for our use cases. It integrates nicely with Laravel Forge, which is our primary use case.

Incentivized

We are an all-CentOS-shop, but we've done a number of things with Ubuntu and Fedora. Most of the production CentOS machines are only there because prior to that Fedora helped to blaze the trail to get there. It's been a very good platform for testing our new ideas. Ubuntu is similarly positioned in our organization, but Fedora stacks up well in our environment.

Incentivized

openSUSE Leap has wide variety of already precompiled software packages in default repositories. It even has some specific packages in official repositories that are not available in other Linux distribution repositories. It is also very stable and reliable distro - we can predict when new versions will be released and when we should make system upgrades.

Windows 10: Expensive, with more security problems, more difficult to keep updated and less variety of free / open source applications. Its use encourages bad information security practices. OpenSuse Linux: A different distribution at source (Suse Linux), use of rpm packages (with fewer repositories and incompatible with Ubuntu Linux dpkg packages), and whose main objective is to be a "testing ground" for its paid version / professional, SUSE enterprise Linux.

Incentivized

• Shorter LTS means more administrator work
• Security patches help reduce vulnerabilities to help save money

Incentivized

• More effective maintenance means a smaller headcount needed for running the production servers.
• The easiness of deployment means more time we can spend on software development of company-specific applications.
• Great community support and overlap with other Linux systems mean that an answer to nearly any problem is usually one google query away.

• Systems administration with Ubuntu is easy with little deep knowledge about it. Docs and community publications are great resources for any task you need to perform on any Ubuntu server and the organization can save several salaries of specialized sys admins in favor of more active roles.
• Having been an Ubuntu user for many years personally, setting up new Ubuntu servers on my organization came with zero cost for me. I just deployed one instance from my hosting/cloud provider and started working right after it was running, no need to ask support or hire new staff for these tasks.
• Replacing paid options with Ubuntu have also saved thousands of dollars on Windows Server licenses. I've migrated Windows/SQL Server based systems to Ubuntu/MySQL/PostgreSQL several times during my career and saved about USD 5000/year in licenses to many of them.

Incentivized