Well they all use a different interface style. For example Lemmy is "Reddit like". Mastodon is "Twitter like". So just use whatever platform works best for you. You're on Lemmy right now so I would guess you're looking for a Reddit style. There's also kbin to serve the same, but they're having some problems federating right now. They may not offer the best user experience. kbin is newer and still in early development. Lemmy has a few years under its belt.
So is kbin part of lemmy? Or is it different like mastadon?
Kbin is another Reddit like platform. All Fediverse platforms communicate using the ActivityPub protocol, but each platform has it's own development team. Right now ActivityPub is not seamless between platforms, for example Lemmy is not talking to Mastodon very well right now. The goal is for seamless communications between platforms, but that's not the case yet. It's just growing pains that should get worked out over time.
I imagine the surge in the fediverse has the linux community frothing at the mouth. Moving away from privatized software to open source, a step closer to ushering in the mythical year of the linux desktop.
Linux has actually become measurably more popular over the past few years, recently cracking the 3% mark (actually 7% including Chrome OS). I know, doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind even sub-1% browser projects like Brave or Vivaldi are not only alive, but also rather well known and doing great... And Mozilla is co-defining internet standards with Firefox at 9%.
I think we can thank not only Chrome OS (which actually is a Linux desktop distro, no matter how you look at it), the Steam Deck, and finally Microsoft and Win11 for that trend lol
Maybe, but the scale is different. We're talking about a client-server application versus a whole operating system. The Fediverse has created new open source communities, but I think it's had minimal impact on existing ones. In other words wide scale adoption of the Fediverse may not significantly increase the popularity of Linux over any other OS. Though many instance admins are using a VPS so it could be a boon for server farms running on open source software.
If the whole fediverse thing gets to the mainstream, more people can start looking at ways to be less corporate-dependent in their digital lives, and maaaybe start considering Linux as their main OS.
I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but hey! people can dream I guess.
No but they could all run on a single domain. For example I'm on lemmy.blahaj.zone but blahaj.zone is primarily a calckey (like Mastodon but less minimalist than Mastodon) instance.
admins could roll deployments that are tightly integrated if they wanted now, just takes time to setup. I think most servers are dealing with the basics right now.