<my2¢>I used Fedora 8 thru 11 (Werewolf to Leonidas). Fedora was my first full-time, make-the-leap-to-Linux-only distro (WinXP started BSODing my workstation - I used Fedora to recover and ended up totally replacing XP with Fedora after rescuing my files). The main differences you will experience in Fedora-land is the total FOSSness and a need to learn more about SELinux than you probably ever imagined wanting to know. Anything not-FOSS, you will need to install and configure yourself (with help from kind strangers in forums on the wild-'n'-wacky-web). Unless your primary goal is learning a huge amount of stuff totally unrelated to coding for the Interwebz, and you don't especially cherish ease-of-use for non-FOSS programs, give Fedora a pass.</my2¢>