[Discuss] Debian is now the most popular Linux distribution on web servers

[tmetro-blu at vl.com (Tom Metro)]

http://w3techs.com/blog/entry/debian_is_now_the_most_popular_linux_distribution_on_web_servers
  Debian lost that #1 position in June 2010 to CentOS and gained it back
  now, after a head-to-head race in the last year.

  Debian is now used by 9.6% of all websites (up from 8.9% one year ago,
  and 8% two years ago), which is equivalent to 29.4% of all Linux-based
  sites.

  It is also the fastest growing operating system at the moment: every
  day 54 of the top 1 million sites switch to Debian.

Not such a big deal if you look at the chart shown in the article, which
shows CentOS and Debian neck-and-neck at the top, trading off the lead
while on relatively flat trajectories, and both way ahead of the two
runners up, Ubuntu and RedHat.

It's easy to speculate that RedHat doesn't get the volume that CentOS
does because it costs money, but what does this say about Ubuntu Server,
which although commercial support is available, can be installed for free.

Given that it is free, Ubuntu Server should serve as its own "CentOS"
alternative for business users who want to have a homogeneous
environment, yet not have to pay for support on all the boxes they run.

I thought it might be that Debian retains a lead through inertia, having
predated Ubuntu Server by a significant period, and Ubuntu Server
doesn't provide compelling enough reasons to switch to it from Debian.
But then the article says:

  This growth comes primarily from websites that are starting to use
  Linux, because we see in the technology change report that many sites
  subsequently switch from Debian to the Ubuntu distribution (which is
  based on Debian). Debian gains market share from all other Linux
  distributions, mostly from CentOS, SuSE and Fedora.


If you run a Debian-based distribution on your servers, which flavor,
and why?

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/