This document discusses various Hadoop distributions and how to choose between them. It introduces Apache Hadoop and describes popular distributions from Cloudera, Hortonworks, and MapR. Cloudera is based on open source Hadoop but adds proprietary tools, while Hortonworks uses only open source software. MapR takes a different approach than Hadoop with its own file system. The document advises trying different distributions' community editions to compare them and determine features needed before selecting a distribution.