i have no favorites as they are all just tools for me to use ... voted other ...
I started with Ubuntu when it was at it's dawn. Quickly migrated to RedHat and it's variants. I feel comfortable with RedHat based distros. But, can work on any other distros like Debian and it's variants, Slackware, SuSe, Mandriva without a hitch 
Ubuntu: bar none.
Reasons: many, professional and personal
How long: Since 6.04
My vote for Suse, as i'm using that right now. 
I have used many versions, from kernel 0.97 all the way up to where we are now. I currently have Suse, Fedora, Centos,Pardus, Sabayon, Ubuntu, Debian and a couple of others installed on my MacBook Pro running under virtual box.
Strangely enough the only one that I've had any problems with, is Ubuntu as the Guest additions don't deem to hook into the Video stuff properly.
Dave
Debian has been my favorite general purpose distro for 15+ years, but I use backtrack more often as it is slick, fast, and I am a fairly security-oriented guy.
I actually prefer FreeBSD for general use, typically. Just a matter of personal preference, I think there are some nice features in various Linux versions depending on one's purpose.
Ubuntu here, as it's what I started using. Although I've worked on Debian and CentOS servers a lot too, but for the desktop, definitely Ubuntu.
I really like and get on well with Unity too, although that did take a few weeks...
Slackware (since the begining) is my favorite distro, but i'm using Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, CentOS, Redhat(Fedora), Gentoo, Knoppix and a few others as well.
I used Ubuntu for many years as my "second" OS.
When I had started working in a more complex dev environment I switched to Ubuntu Linux as my main OS. Anyway, in the last couple of months I have discovered Debian: rock solid, stable as hell. Go-go-fly Ubuntu, Debian is my new love.
PCLinuxOS 2009...
This has been the single most stable OS of all for me. I cannot get it to crash!
I have it fully bootable from a 16GB USB stick auto-running into E-UAE on an AA1 netbook that is SSDless and HDDless...
My first attempt at Linux was a full genuine Yggdrasil P'n'P Fall 1995 edition. Never ever got it working correctly. Still got the original 2 CDs and Manual, Sadly the box has gone.
My next attempt was Caldera 7.0, Then 7.1, worked fine unless I wanted sound... ;o/
Then came Knoppix 3.something and that worked and my eyes lit up. I still use a live CD version of 5.1.1 for testing purposes.
Tried Mandriva/Mandrake, 9.0? can't remember, and that was seriously unstable.
Ended up with Debian 6.0.x + Gnome, (squeeze?), and use this along with PCLinuxOS 2009 + KDE, and Knoppix 5.1.1 + KDE as test beds and main OSes...
To re-iterate PCLinuxOS 2009 has been, and is the one, single most, stable consumer OS I have ever had the pleasure to use...
(Dare I say I am using Windows ATM, or is this considered swearing... ;o)
Bazza, G0LCU...
I currently for some reasons use Ubuntu, but i prefer Debian. Is most stable, safer and more organized under the appearance of the applications, for this my vote goes to her.
Or BackBox Linux (based on Ubuntu) if i have to do penetration test.
Wrote a cron file to reorder these polls in order of votes, descending.
Looks much better.
2 Likes
I'm using Slackware, 'cause it's simple. Veery simple.
Iam using Linux Mint 17 Qiana, Ubuntu 14.04
I voted for Ubuntu because that is what I have running now. Prior to that, I used Susie.
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I voted for Ubuntu because that is what I have running now. Prior to that, I used Suse.
My favorite is zorin, manjaro, and kubuntu. 
- CamCK
Ubuntu is currently my favorite.
Arch Linux hands down. Linux, to me at least, should be built with only what you need. Arch Linux gives you full control over everything on your box.
Never tried arch Linux. Is it easy to install?
I'm dual booting Solaris and Linux. I switched from Ubuntu to Mint a couple of years ago to avoid Unity. Mint, being one of the most popular (if not the most popular) Linux desktop distribution these days should probably listed in the available choices.