Is there any compelling reason why one should go for a specific Linux distro? I usually just go for CentOS because it's usually the first option (alphabetical order FTW!), but I'm wondering if there's really any reason to go with, say, Debian or Fedora. Linux is Linux, so why choose one over the other?
I simply go with what I'm used to, and in this case, it's CentOS. I'm sure the other distros are good but since I've never used them before, I'm not about to try now. In any case, CentOS works for me, so why switch?
Well, okay, I admit I don't use FreeBSD either. People do seem to disregard it, though, perhaps because it's not really Linux. Still, it's a very good operating system and works quite well as a server. In fact, I know some large sites that run on FreeBSD and does so really well.
Is there any compelling reason why one should go for a specific Linux distro? I usually just go for CentOS because it's usually the first option (alphabetical order FTW!), but I'm wondering if there's really any reason to go with, say, Debian or Fedora. Linux is Linux, so why choose one over the other?
CentOS is the most popular one. You can also check the Popular Linux distributions Poll where everyone voted for CentoS.
I tend to hear less issues about CentOS than FreeBSD honestly, most people I know that have fooled around with FreeBSD are beating their head against an invisible brick wall. Does that just about sum it up correctly?