Accoring to distrowatch.com there are now 804 different Linux distributions. From its humble beginnings Linux has morphed into a beomoth which has the potential to challenge the giants of Microsoft and Apple. But is 804 one (or 800) distributions too many?

When you start out with Linux it is difficult to know where to begin. The choice of first distribution is rarely an educated one and is more often determined by chance. I started with susi because that was the box which was lying around the house. Today many people start out with ubuntu bacause it is pre-installed on their shiny new netbook. Some day hundereds of children in the developing world will be inteoduced to a customised vertion of Linux through the one laptdop per child initiative. Many people pick a distribution based on what their friends recommend or what discs they are lent. But with all this variety, your first foray into linux can be met with anyhing from pleasure  to horror or even shear frustration. The variety, complexity and lack of overriding structure can be enough to scare some people off Linux for life. And thus there are some who lament the fragmentation of Linux and call for greater structure and regulation.

I am not one of those people.

For me Linux is about variety and custiomisation. I love the fact I am not tied down to one persons view of how a computer should work, look or interact. There are 804 distributions for me to experiment with and each one has its own neish. However many of these distributions are, and will remain, unfinnished masterpieces. Even with an ever expanding 29 million Linux users there will never be enough developers to maintain so many distributions.  In an industry where survival of the fittest is an essential mantra it is inevitable that not all of these distrivbutions will survive.

The future of Linux is a family tree with many, many branches. Some distributions will always be more popular but there will always be a distribution which can meet your needs, however obscure. And goes wijout saying that variety is the spice of life.