*Disclaimer*: This post is not meant to be a troll or start any kind of heated discussion.

when I first started using linux I used Redhat. then I switched to Debian. Most recently I have been using Mandrake. I am getting a little bit frustrated with Mandrake as it gets more and more bloated. My question is:

Does anyone know of a simple distrobution with a minimal (yet thorough) package of applications that I could use for my work computer? I mean people say windoze is getting bloated but some of the linux distros are as well. I realize that I could individually uninstall packages that Mandrake installs but why not install a minimum set of tools and then install what I need as I go (Not to mention my recent installs of Mandrake have been really buggy but that may be my fault).

To sum all of this up what is the best distro to replace (I hate to even say this) Windows 98SE with Office 2000. That is really all I use at work but I hate it and want to use Linux.

I prefer slackware and recommend it, its not bloated and is easy to customize. And you could most likely install StarOffice to replace Office2000.

Well depending on hardware you can always go back to the 2.2.x kernel disrto. I did on one of my older boxes and all I did was update the kerenl and do some light configurations. I was a fan favorite using RH6.2 with Gnome. And then install SUN's star office suite. If you like that sort of thing. anyway back to tip toe trhough the daisies..................

I'd have to say Slackware if you know how to set it up properly.
You *may* want to consider FreeBSD 4.5 it is the LEAST bloated and is my favorite for work becuase it basically installs only the kernel standard and you pick exactly what stuff you want installed and its packaging system makes it very easy to update/install software from the ftp.

for example:

pkg_add -r gaim

In this command, it will automatically go out to the ftp site and find a package named gaim of the newest version and install it.

Of course most of the favorite desktop managers like KDE, Gnome, and WindowMaker work beautifully on it. The only downside is its somewhat poor optimization but then again you want to use it for work so it wont matter anyways.