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This is even better...Redmond Linux

I'm not convinced that Hancom Linux is the best choice here. Personally I'd take a small KDE distribution of some kind, and use StarOffice or OpenOffice. Heck, you could even try KOffice, if you really wanted to. It doesn't support Microsoft documents, but ignoring that, it's fairly usable and quick(ish). Though, kspread does crash often while doing a search.

I briefly tried the beta version of Hancom Office (look on the Arstechnica forums for the link), but I uninstalled it after about 2 minutes as it was shockingly slow and horrible to use. Still it was a beta version, and hopefully in the near future, they'll improve the performance a great deal.

Personally I lean towards Mandrake, as it has vast support for applications through the Mandrake Cooker, and it's simple and swift to install.

Although I'm just about to try the latest versions of Redmond Linux and Elx Linux.

I currently have Mandrake 8.1 running StarOffice 6 beta, using Truetype fonts, and it looks fantastic!

i ran xp for ~3 days as well. it wasnt that slow. the eye candy was fun to toy with at first, but then i realized that the os is s'posed to look like that and i would have to fight through a mac-esque environment in order to get any work done. that wonderfully bloated piece of crap was wiped off my machine quickly. I've never run kde on redhat...actually, ive never run kde...i dont like task bars...im an enlightenment kinda guy...tho with how ass redhat is, the slowness of it, the bulk, and the broken applications that come with it, I would be up for renaming it to redmond linux...cept that name is taken see? ... id agree with linux sucking your balls...esp if you thinking redhat is what linux is :) what a crappy distro that is...tho free bsd is right up there in my mind with redhat...but i cant argue...i have been hooked on be since 4.5...i was tear bound when I read that Be was no longer...so sad. but i have my be 5 prof, and i will continue to use it...my dualboot of openbsd/beos works just fine for me....

That almost sounds like Redmond Linux. I've tried it out and it appears to be a very newbie friendly distro. Installing it was very simple. You had to do some configuration (network, user info, modem, printer, video resolution & color depth, etc. - stuff that the Windows installer asks for), but it didn't ask for what packages were to be installed. They were being installed while the user was filling out the configuration screens. After that information was entered, the user could play solitaire until the install finished. All the development tools are on a separate CD, so it's targetted at regular desktop users who want to surf, read/send email, watch DVDs, listen to mp3s, etc.

simple linux:
redmond linux
everyone's linux

both are aimed square at current windows users, and both show promise in that regard, methinks.
it's being worked on.

They do...Redmond Linux.

This is weird. I'm in a campus lab now [on a Mac no less - bleh], but last night, I was using HoTMail and MSN just fine using a recent nightly form the 0.9.5-trunk [on Win2K - my IE5.5 has taken a total crap anyway]. Not like I go to either site that often, but this is uncool, to say the least.

Just wait till I switch mom over to Linux, then we'll be able to wage a mediocre opposition.

-bZj

>>As far as the desktop market goes, no one in Linux is serious about desktop market share unless and until a major distribution releases a "Win32" edition with layered WINE optimized for running Windows binaries.

According to an AC post above, the closest to this is Redmond Linux which has WINE and SAMBA as part of the default installation.

Forget RedHat XP, Redmond XP seems much more appropriate! Come's with a 'Go' button too. :)

Joe Average Computer User is getting pretty savvy, actually. These things have been around long enough for folks to have grown up with them. Matter of fact, my mother in law takes exception to the comment "your grandma could do it"... and points out quite rightly that most back offices are RUN by Grandma... not OUR grandmas born in ought-five but Greg Geek's parents, who are now grandmas because Greg is old enough to have finally found a geekette and decided to procreate.

Besides, somebody has come up with a distro aimed at Joe Random Windows User... ironically, it's made in Redmond, and it's called Redmond Linux. (Shamless plug for a business associate of mine.) I haven't had time to take a real good look at it, but given what I know can be done with Linux, it can't be that hard to put together something really User Friendly.

I just don't get Suse, the company. Their YAST and YAST2 programs are under their own, non-GPL license. I believe the distribution as a whole is under a funny license as well. They refuse to release installation iso's for 7.0 or 7.1 for x86. If you frequent LinuxIso.org you know what I'm talking about. But Suse released "live evaluation" iso's of 7.0 and 7.1. You can install Suse from ftp. You can even download installation iso's for every other arcitechture that they support. But not for x86. It just baffles me.

Linux Central just recently added a Suse 7.0 disc to their Linux Cental CD-Roms selection. But not 7.1. I know I could roll my own and stuff, but the new Redhat, Conectiva, and Debian beckon to come and try them out as well. Rather waste my time messing with getting Linux From Scratch working, than trying to get Suse installed.

I know. The patent answer is "It's business, stupid", but that argument doesn't make much sense when *all* of your competition is offering 'free samples', but you're not. As a dumb American, what's the reason for going with Suse instead of Redhat or Mandrake, or even Storm or Progeny? I just don't get it.

One other thing, if anyone can help me. One of the most annoying things right now for me is the lack of good fonts in web pages under Konq. Do the boxed distros include fonts that aren't included in the download versions? I haven't bought a boxed distro in almost six months and it's about time to get one. I'll definately get one sooner than later if I can get some better fonts.

And finally, I feel the need to pimp some of the very cool distros I've come across. I've haven't been able to try these out yet (doh. got to get a cd burner.) but they do look cool. First, Caldera has released a beta for their upcoming 3.1 workstation release. Their is a review of it at Linux Planet. The coolest transistion distro I've found is Redmond Linux. Tries to focus on the destop and do away with the need for the command line. There is also Demudi. The Debian Multimedia Distribution. The name says it all. Then there's a few of the more hardcore, hacker type distros: Rock Linux, Stampede Linux, and Linux From Scratch. And last, but not least. The most vaporous of them all. Microsoft Linux.

Redmond Linux made by an ex-Microsoft employee, aims to make Linux even easier to use than Windows. So why would we need OpenWindows? Redmond Linux already have Beta 1 out. ;-)
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