Versions, releases, distributions and the kernel

What are the types of Linux? Like Mandrake -- I'm kind of confused. I mean like Microsoft Windows -- they have 95, 98, 2000, XP. In Linux, what are they?
The various Windows versions refer to new releases of the Microsoft products. Windows 95 was released in 1995, 98 in 1998, etc. You could probably correlate different Linux kernel versions to these Microsoft products. Red Hat, Mandrake, Caldera are Linux variants that license the same Linux kernel, with add-on types of features and functionality.

Editor's note: For more information on Linux distributions (such as Red Hat or Mandrake), visit our Best Web Links. Or, for links on the Linux kernel, click here.