Published at LXer:

I recently received a letter from a computer pro who's nearing 80. He's disgusted by "how [Microsoft] things have developed, and how most software is put out there full of errors and omissions. Help is virtually none existent. One really has to dig to find answers."

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I love the Which-Distro mega thread and report new one's I see for it every day, but not before the newbie poster has received a half dozen recomendations for Slack, Gentoo, and Arch.

For many people, the recommendations in this article are probably the right choices ... an old version of Mephis (with a book), Xandros, or (Free)Linspire. I wouldn't touch one of those distros with a ten foot pole, but as Linux becomes more rooted in the public consciousness, many complete computer illiterates get a notion to give it a try.

Hopefully, using one of these psuedo-Linux products will open their eyes to what FOSS is really all about. ... But, as much as it pains me to say so, people whose interests include nothing beyond MySpace, YouTube, email, and IM, probably deserve a decent OS alternative to MS.

Xavier ... Maybe this would be a good link to add to your "See this First" post on the mega thread.

For someone who is interested in email, browsing the Web, and running a few office applications, there is nothing wrong with the recommended distributions. Although it is not my distro of choice, I got a computer for my son running Linspire and it was the first time he was ever able to run the computer and not screw things up. (He subsequently got his hands on a new Dell with Windows XP and the thing was having problems in a week. I won't help him fix it, by the way. He already has a computer with a good operating system. )

Hi I have spend for ever reading through posts and seem to just go round in circles(was to try lots myself). I would like a fairly basic fast loading OS without too many programmes built in just to run the odd application mainly music and movies and browsing the internet. Could I please have one good OS reccomended to try first as i would really like to get started on linux.
Thanks linux newb.

Did you read the link in the 1st post here?

I always recommend PCLinuxOS to anyone that needs an easy to use and learn distro.

PCLinuxOS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Plus it comes with things like Thunderbird, Fierfox, GIMP, OpenOffice. The apps most people look for.