I have been using linux since a long long time... 7+ yrs now
I started with slackware 2 and debian 2.2
Today I use Red Hat 9 and I love

First Looks
I had copied linux from my friend and did not buy the boxed pack - in linux this is completely legal!! (unlike windoze)
i popped the cd in and it started installation on its own
The graphical interface is good and not much has changed since RH 8 though

Experts kindly note: the fdisk option is now gone from the partition screen - You need to do an Alt-F2 and run the fdisk command manually, but you will enjoy it

The installation is real smooth and unlike windoze you do not have to restart in the middle of the installation

Usability
RH9 has almost all kinds of software thrown in for free. They include word processors , other office apps , games, programming tools etc
There are often more than one software of the same type examples for graphical word processing we have Abiword (my fav), Kword, Kwrite, Gedit and openoffice writer.

Open Office and KOffice are the two office suited included in RH9.
Both are excellent and I prefer OpenOffice. Both these suites can read and write to MS Office XP files so you need not worry for programming we have glade. Kdevelop, Qt designer , xemacs and gvim!!

Anjuta is not included, but everyone who develops GTK should use it (www.anjuta.org)
RH9, can thus be used for almost all the things Windows can be used for and a lot lot more

You have industrial strength Web , mail, ftp, News, File , Print telnet and proxy servers as part of the standard install!!

Windoze may be a nice and predictable servant but Linux is more like your pet than your servant. You will like it, love it and enjoy learning more about it. And you’ll love teaching it new tricks... it is a big and powerful yet humble pet.

Throw away your windows and switch to Linux !!!
and I hope you will surely agree that---


In a world without boundaries,
who needs windows and gates??

Tell me if you liked this reivew
criticism/suggestions/and comments are always welcome
The author is an open source developer and is an RHCE
to know more about open source software go to <A href=’http://www.fsf.org’>www.fsf.org</A> 

Software version:

Red Hat Linux 9