My first Linux experience was with Mandrake quite a few years ago ending up with Mandriva LE2005.

Thought I would try out a different distro and Ubuntu seemed to meet my requirements.

I have generally stuck with Ubuntu and Gnome although my wife initially preferred KDE and so used Kubuntu for a while.

The introduction of Unity meant the parting of the ways for Ubuntu and us.

So, onwards and upwards with LMDE/Mate and CrunchBang/OpenBox. :-)