Linux has come along way in a very short time, where it differs from Windows is the choice, there are thousands of distros available, however the main distros are condensed down to approx 10 - 20, as a IT project manager I get to test quite a few, each has its strengths and weaknesses, it really depends what you want to do, my suggestion is try a few, then make your mind up from there. Personally for plain XP replacement specifically for multimedia use, I would sya by far the best to use is Linspire, and it looks and feels every bit a good as XP, and for people who are not very IT literate it has a great install tool, called click n run. Install time for Linspire approx 20 minutes, has manuy applications which come with Lindows, sorry Linspire, which actually give it more of an OS X feel, the click n run allows you to download a vast array of software, all of which has been checked to make sure it will work with Linspire/Linux, you just go to the warehouse, click on whatyou want, Linspie downloads and installs the software, while you have a cup of tea. Hardware support is very good, I have just loaded it on a new PC and not a problem. As for broadband, Linspie is optimised for Broadband, no setup required, in fact it picked up my router and surfboard modem without a hitch.
For business use or power users, my picks are SUSE 9.3 and Sun Java Desktop Release two, both of which use the SUSE core, and Gnome desktop, SJD alos run on solaris. Currently I run Sun Java Desktop, SUSE and SJD come with many Novel and sun products as part of the package, which make networking relatively easy, working with Windows is no problem, even the likes of Zen application server and group wise are now shipping with these distros, and the evolution email client is now at a stage where it a strong rival for Lotus notes and Outlook.
I still run windows XP on all my systems, mainly because of the fact that many industry specific applications will not run on linux, even with wine and other windows emulation packages. I also have a mac for similar reasons, and because my brother gave it to me, and I can sayeach has its good points and uses, One rerason I still use XP is my addiction to skinning, and in this case due to Object desktop still being the king of this market. Having said that I am still able to work with skinning products on linux, just takes a little more time learning the different applications and where to find them, with OD its already there. As for skinning sites for linux Freshmeat is a great site if not the best. So if you love skinning and want to try linux, go for it , just don't throw away you xp.
I find Fedora release 3 impressive, as is ubuntu, and Xandros, mandrak and...... although they are not as polished overall or as easy to use as SUSE, SJD and LINSPIRE. I have just set my mother up with a reconditioned PIII laptop, and have loaded Linspire, mainly because it has all the software she wanted, and she found using on my system very easy to us, plus if she needs some software, she goes to click and run and Linspire does the rest, with windows I have to run with her over the phone. So as the add says Linspire is so easy my granmother can install and use it.
Hope this helps guys.
