It's important to understand that the kernel and the distribution aren't the same thing. All these distributions share the same kernel. We're not dealing with forks of the Linux kernel, just packages around the Linux kernel.
> Also, I'm not trolling here, but would welcome the opportunity to understand why (to a newcomer at least) there seem to be so many variations to choose from.
Tthe closest I've been able to come to a reason is "because we can". Make of that what you will. :)
http://futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/uploads/11.07/gldt1107.pn...
It's important to understand that the kernel and the distribution aren't the same thing. All these distributions share the same kernel. We're not dealing with forks of the Linux kernel, just packages around the Linux kernel.
> Also, I'm not trolling here, but would welcome the opportunity to understand why (to a newcomer at least) there seem to be so many variations to choose from.
Tthe closest I've been able to come to a reason is "because we can". Make of that what you will. :)