Ubuntu or Fedora?

I’ve got a spare monitor and an old spare Windows machine and a spare bit of desk—I was thinking of installing Linux.

(I’ve used Linux before, LinuxPPC especially.)

So... Ubuntu or Fedora? (Or something else?)

I have two main reasons for running Linux:

1. To check out the latest progress in the Linux desktop world, to see what’s cool and how folks are doing.

2. To have a light-duty in-house server. (Just for private use, not Internet-facing.)

Yes, these are two very different needs. But this is Linux, it can handle it. ;)

It seems like Ubuntu gets a lot of attention for its desktop.

The website is a bit touchy-feely for me, though. I don’t like the smiling faces of those people in a circle looking up at me. But then, I laugh when people cry on TV. I’m mean.

Fedora seems like it might be more the geek’s Linux, and I’m a geek—but that goes against #1: I really do want to see a Linux desktop that’s made usability gains, and it sounds as if Ubuntu is where it’s at. (Since I’m a Mac OS X geek, I’m a user interface geek as well as a command-line geek.)