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Red Hat leads in popularity poll

Programmers prefer Red Hat's version of Linux by a wide margin over others' versions, a study by Evans Data has found. Of 300 surveyed about which version of Linux they'd use for setting up a Web server or application server, 77 percent said they'd use Red Hat, the study found. German Linux version SuSE and French Mandrake tied for second place, with 22 percent each. Caldera's Open Linux won 21 percent. FreeBSD, a version of Unix with a related open-source programming philosophy, garnered 20 percent. Debian won 18 percent, Slackware 13 percent, TurboLinux 11 percent and Corel Linux 8 percent, the study found.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland
Programmers prefer Red Hat's version of Linux by a wide margin over others' versions, a study by Evans Data has found. Of 300 surveyed about which version of Linux they'd use for setting up a Web server or application server, 77 percent said they'd use Red Hat, the study found.

German Linux version SuSE and French Mandrake tied for second place, with 22 percent each. Caldera's Open Linux won 21 percent. FreeBSD, a version of Unix with a related open-source programming philosophy, garnered 20 percent. Debian won 18 percent, Slackware 13 percent, TurboLinux 11 percent and Corel Linux 8 percent, the study found.