GNU/Linux is about choice. Not everyone likes the same distribution, graphical environment or even applications. Choice is the power and beauty of GNU/Linux, and one must come in terms of that, instead of trying to enforce his likes and dislikes to others.

Every GNU/Linux user must be in terms of that, that is, there are choices on everything, and anyone else may be using a different piece of software.

A useful video from Red Hat, a GNU/Linux distro producer, that clarifies this:

http://www.redhat.com/f/rm/choice_small.rm
http://www.redhat.com/f/mov/choice_small.mov
http://www.redhat.com/f/ogg/choice.ogg

(from page http://www.redhat.com/en_us/USA/rhel/informationcenter/videos/films/).

I think it's a case of who are you trying to please? The readers, or the magazine's own vision? Although it's good to go in with ethics anda particular vision, it's better to satisfy the audience than one's own tastes....

In regards to Mr Danforth's letter and the editors somewhat unwarranted comments about Xandros, I have to respectfully disagree.

I am a "Windows Crossover Linux newb"! Being sick of the MS monopoly and the malware games being played, I tried the Knoppx live CD. Impressed at what I saw, I went for the real thing. I installed Suse, Mandriva, Ubuntu, and Mepis, before settling in with Xandros 3.02 OCE. "It just worked". I have installed it on 5 machines to date with no problems. 2 eMachines with AMD chips, 2 Wintergreen Celeron boxes, and a Compaq PII. Detected all the hardware and hooks up with the windows machines on my home network just fine. Biggest problem I had was my lack of knowledge.

The install was simple, and I felt comfortable with the interface. The user forum is one of it's strongest points. Lots of people in there that are willing to help. Maybe Mr Danforth should have given it a try. Maybe he should have tried the OCE release first before making a purchase. It's possible he might be singing a different tune.

Hardware issues face all distros. Xandros is not immune but it worked for me. I had issues or just didn't like the other distros I mentioned above, but I didn't go out and seek to discredit them. I tried another. I would think a magazine that boasts being for "the new user" would try to promote every distro. There are a lot of satisfied Xandros users.

I feel the editors reply would have been in better taste if it were stated "Sorry that didn't work out for you, hopefully you'll find a distro that does".

(We can all wonder what would have happened if MS wouldn't have paid Corel to drop this distro.)

This distro may not be what an old school Linux user wants, but to all you newbs out there that are not satisfied with your current distro, take a closer look at Xandros. It might just be "the one" for you. If not, keep trying. You have a choice. Hopefully there will be a LiveCd with the next release

The goal we are all seeking is the same.

Ok, I am registered, but the latest verion I see for download is September. No October there.

When will it be ready?

although i can see where you're all coming from, i've always found mango hilarious. :) must be like seinfeld, you either get it or you don't. ;)

look closely at the laptop screen on the front page......

This is the best edition yet. It feels like there is a good variety of Linux applications reviewed and general information given to help most Linux desktop users, regardless of what distribution/desktop they use. Good work.

However, Nicholas and Mango both do the Linux community a disservice, especially from the point of view of a magazine purporting to *help* new users. It's obvious that the magazine felt it wise to be more agnostic and helpful to all Linux users. But it would have been most wise to take the Gnome/KDE debate as a sign for a need to change; instead these two took it as a personal attack and laid down their objectivity (in the eyes of the readers) and ceased to be journalists. They instead took on the role of evangelists needing to defend their dislike for Gnome and showed in print (so to speak) to all Linux desktop users an apparent schizm in the Linux community where gnome and kde users are pitted against each other in a never ending battle.

Oh how wise it would have been to explain how Gnome and KDE are each working towards (and have largely achieved) freedesktop compliance so that by-and-large, applications designed for one environment will work fine in the other. Maybe also covering some background on the early license struggles KDE users had with Trolltech, without which gnome would likely have had little market share. Maybe, if they were really daring, some discussion on some philosophical differences between the desktops, such as coding (C++ kde vs C gnome), HIG, use of/tendency towards eyecandy, and etc. A great idea would be to explain that most distributions allow you to experiment with each and include instructions on switching between the two.

Instead Nicholas made derogatory remarks about the Gnome community because someone posted a message to a mailing list about the poll. Ooh those Gnome users are all cheats, aren't they?

And if sarcasm is the lowest form of communication (a common saying) what does that say about Mango's writing ability? She made some very interesting, but vague, points about Gnome's past changes. I've been following Gnome for about 4 - 5 years and I've noticed some changes, but some of her statements don't ring a bell. Maybe she was talking about the Gnome 1.x days, or maybe even prior to that. And what, exactly, does she mean when she says, "I like Gnome because I have no brain?" Does she mean that people who use Gnome have no brain or are incapable of thinking? If so, that's not a great way to unify the Linux community.

Please, oh please, if you want to help new Linux users, try to avoid pettiness. I have rarely heard such meanness in all of the flames I've experienced, and this is *by far* the worst I've heard from a *professional* magazine.