What desktop system would you recommend (one that isn’t “one size fits all”)? I’ve tried xfce but it’s a tad too “cut down” for my liking. As much as KDE 4 isn’t quite ready for prime time yet, I can see a future for it, especially when users can configure it to their liking as much as they can with KDE 3.5.x right now.

I recommend Gobolinux. It breaks with the broken FHS model.

Every App goes in one dir.
Every setting to that app will also reside there.

You dont need to fiddle around in a messed up /etc directory at all.

That being said though, Gobolinux is NOT for a newbie. It will still require a bit knowledge. But at least the people on the mailing list are helpful if one is patient.

And, all of a sudden, Vista media center is deciding it will connect to my Samba share! I don’t know exactly what I did, but I’m just glad it’s working because MythTV involves a little more tinkering than I care for right now (Knoppmyth turned out to be utterly useless and installing MythTV, lirc, etc, under Mandriva didn’t result in much, either).

So, for now, Mandriva is working out quite well as a desktop OS.

Add the fact that Microsoft is a beast whose ultra lucrative money pipeline is being threatened seriously.. Add that they are incorporating even more encryption into their new products than in the past.. Add that Gates and friends have ambitions beyond mere mortals and do not stop looking into new markets.. Add that the software they control lies underneath where most of the world plays out their office business.. Add that their EULA attempts to legally enable them to do virtually anything with any of your files.. Add that they continue taking over more and more components of the total computing experience for most users (now the MSpyware(TM) is crowding out third party watchdogs).. and you can only imagine what they have in store.

In this context, mentally, a simple “apt-get dist-upgrade” + coffee (after a little research initially if no one told you about it) almost makes you feel like you arrived in Linux Hawaii after many years of hacking it out in the XP Sahara of uncertainty. The issues with a distro like PCLOS are like the initial day in Hawaii where things are a little more hectic than usual dealing with checking in and such. On XP, even in the best days, you can really become anxious over what the next day will bring if you have anything valuable on the machine and are saving things in MS formats using MS apps or depend on applications written for your business with MS tools. [Alright, I'm exaggerating just a tad :) ]