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Windows is a single proprietary product of Microsoft. A new version is released at Microsoft’s discretion, time gaps between versions have had different ranges.

Linux has two levels of versioning. First, you have “flavors” or “distributions.” Linux is not a single product, but a family of operating systems all released by different companies or organizations based on a common foundation. The central part of Linux that is maintained alone is the kernel, the core of the OS.

Through distributons, Linux has major flexibility. Distributions each have their own goals, intented use, release schedule, and other differentiating factors. There are distributions geared to function as desktops, servers, NASes, etc. There are distributons created to serve certain languages, localities, even religions!

Both of these models have their pros and cons. Linux is able to acheive major flexibility through distributions, but some suggest that this causes confusion amongst users, whereas the Windows product line is much easier to follow.

Some of Linux’s more popular distributions are Ubuntu, RedHat, SuSE, Debian, and Mandriva.