I started out with Red Hat as well, at RH7.  Here's my history

RH7 - RH9

Then moved onto...

Slackware

Got tired of the crappy package management and switched to...

Fedora

Realized that wasn't the RH I loved and switched to...

Debian

And then after getting tired of Debian taking so long to release new 
major versions...

Ubuntu, which I've been using since.  It may be bloated, but overall its 
an extremely nice distribution and as long as you have a computer that's 
5 years of age or less it functions very well.  The development scene is 
better than any other distribution I've used.

Plus, I can get on board with the whole idea of making Linux easier to 
use.  Linux will never become widespread unless the general public feels 
its easy _and_ powerful.  I would gather that 98% of computer users like 
ease of use over complexity and raw power.

-Adam