Debian is a true encyclopedia of free software. You will find in it everything needed to work in the widest possible spectrum of information technology.

In contrast to another Linux distributions Debian is not a finished product like Red Hat, Suse or Mandrake. Debian is primarily a Foundation for build another products. Debian is the only non-commercial distribution among the leading Linux distributions. As such, Debian is developed and maintained by a worldwide team of volunteers.

In contrast to other well-known distributions, Debian's developers have well-defined and published criteria of software quality and test it very carefully, which allowed Debian to earn a reputation of the most reliable Linux distribution. On the other hand, one can always upgrade the system to the newest versions by using the so-called unstable development branch if one wants to.

Debian works excellently on critically important tasks. It is un-arguably the most powerful distribution on the market. Highly configurable, you can choose between stable as a rock, or bleeding edge. That tends to mark it "for experts only."

There are a number of distributions based on Debian:

• Adamantix
• BenHur (a firewall appliance)
• Debian JP (for Japanese end-users)
• Demolinux (live bootable CD)
• ESware Linux (Spanish commercial distribution)
• Gibraltar (router/firewall running of bootable CD )
• Linex (developed by the Spanish regional government of Extramadura)
• Linuxin
• Morphix
• RAYS LX (for the mainland Chinese market)
• Stonegate (high availability firewall and VPN)
• Ubuntu
• Xandros
• Libranet
• Linspire (former Lindows)
• Damn Small Linux (live bootable business card CD - 50 MB)
• Knoppix (live bootable CD)
• ERPOSS - Linux Government Desktop developed by German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)

For more information please visit Debian GNU/Linux home page here.