Fedora needs no introduction because it is one of the most popular Linux distribution alongside big names like Ubuntu, Debian, and Red Hat. But just in case you are coming across the distro for the first time, you should know that it is a professional, customizable Red Hat-backed Linux distro famous for giving its users the latest features while remaining true to the open source community.
Read Also: 10 Reasons to Use Manjaro Linux
Today, I want to share some quick reasons why you should use Fedora. And if you were about to not choose running Fedora don’t make up your mind until the end of the article.
Fedora Linux Desktop
1. Fedora is Bleeding Edge
The Fedora Operating System is called a bleeding edge Linux distribution because it is always rolling out with the latest software, driver updates, and Linux features. This contributes to the reason why you can confidently use Fedora as soon as installation is complete – it ships with the latest stable kernel along with all its benefits.
For example, Fedora is the first major distribution to use systemd as its default init system and the first major distro to use Wayland as its default display server protocol.
2. A Good Community
Fedora has one of the biggest communities in the world with a forum populated by many users who will happily help you sort out any issues that might have you stuck while using the distro.
This is separate from the Fedora IRC channel and the large Reddit community which you can also access for free to learn from other users and share experiences.
3. Fedora Spins
Fedora is available in different flavours referred to by the community as “spins” and each spin uses a different Desktop Environment from the default Gnome Desktop. The currently available Spins are KDE Plasma, XFCE, LXQT, Mate-Compiz, Cinnamon, LXDE, and SOAS.
4. Better Package Management
Unlike Debian and Ubuntu which use dpkg with an apt official front-end, Fedora uses RPM package manager with a dnf front-end and RPM packages are typically easier to build. RPM also has more features than dpkg such as confirmation of installed packages, history and rollback, etc.
5. A Unique Gnome Experience
The Fedora project works closely with the Gnome Foundation thus Fedora always gets the latest Gnome Shell release and its users begin to enjoy its newest features and integration’s before users of other distros do.
6. Top-Level Security
Linux users enjoy top good security thanks to the Linux kernel underlying every distro but Fedora developers have gone further to embed advanced security features within the distro via the Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) module.
SELinux is a Linux kernel security module that enables support for accessing security policies e.g. managing permission rights. You can read more about SELinux here.
7. Fedora is Backed by Red Hat
Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source enterprise software with a community-powered approach to delivering solutions in cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies.
Fedora is backed by the Red Hat community so its users enjoy the advantages of getting support from the Red Hat community which includes commercial support and constant security updates.
8. Prolific Hardware Support
Fedora enjoys many benefits thanks to the communities backing it and a good example is how readily Fedora will work on PCs, with printers, scanners, cameras, etc. from different vendors straight out of the box. If you want a Linux distro that wouldn’t give you any compatibility headaches then Fedora is a good choice.
9. Emphasis on Open Source Software
The chances of discovering proprietary or open source software depend on the Linux distribution that you’re using. Ubuntu, for example, is the most popular distro among home users but it features proprietary software including multimedia codecs and drivers, and Adobe Flash to mention a few. Even the Linux kernel features some closed binary bits so Fedora ships with the Linux-libre kernel as a kernel replacement.
I’m not saying that proprietary software is bad but many people prefer to use open source software whenever they can and some refuse to use closed software completely.
Fedora doesn’t prohibit users from installing any software they want but all of its default apps are open source and it is repo has a no non-free software policy.
The only downside to this is that you will need to resort to downloading proprietary software from 3rd party resources. In any case, the point is that Fedora’s open source philosophy is among the strictest in the community and you might like that.
10. Fedora is Easy to Use
The most common Linux distros are well-known for their ease of use and Fedora is among the easiest distributions to use. Its simple User Interface is simple enough for anyone to boot up for the first time and get used to after a couple of clicks and all of its software offer the same User Experience which gives users a feeling of consistency and familiarity.
How much experience do you have with Fedora and do you have any reasons that support or that against the topic? Drop your opinions on Fedora, suggestions, questions, etc. in the discussion section below.
