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Can you guys ping me when Linux is actually practical to use for something other than familiarizing to the unix environment. I know it's clean and all, but what good is it if it's not practical?

Seriously, what am I supposed to do with "Linux" if I'm not involved with Unix?

Linux is used in a number of embedded environments you may never realize. My TiVo PVR is Linux-based. Some personal Cable/DSL Router/Firewalls are Linux-based. Linux has found its way into a number of products, because it is reliable, malleable, and best of all, royalty-free. Click for a list of products with Linux Inside.

Additionally, there are successful tales of propeller heads setting up inexpensive Linux Internet terminals for their non-propeller head family members. Linux can be customized to completely lock out unwanted changes, and it can be remotely administrated. A homebrew Linux-based Internet terminal could be a good gift to get mom onto the Internet, etc.

Otherwise, its probably best left in the domain of the technical enthusiast.

Practical? Well it kinda depends. I find it to be quite practical for just about anything I want to do but games. Since I don't play games, that isn't really an issue with me. I like having just about any kind of program I might want to use all right there waiting for me to invoke it.

If you want to run a webserver, you can do that. If you want office-type apps, there are plenty to choose from. I just downloaded the open office package, and find that it does much more than I even need, and will happily import most MS docs unless they have weird active-x controls in them.

There are more text editors available in the open source world than you can shake a stick at. I like 'vi', but your mileage may vary.

For mail, you again have more choices than you can shake a stick at.

If you have a PIM (palm-os device), you should be able to sync up to it without difficulties.

I think I have 7 web browsers installed, but I pretty much use Mozilla exclusively. It just plain works with very little muss or fuss.

I spend a lot more time tinkering on my system than is really necessesary, because I'm a unix guy by profession. I'm pretty sure though, given the robustness of modern linux distros, that just about anyone can install it and make it work for them with less fuss than I've seen them experience on windows.

FOr newbies, it takes a bit of a change of paradigm. Slashes lean the proper way, rather than the backwards way used in Redmond.

One of these days I'm going to talk my mother into letting me wipe her box out and install linux on it. That will be a true test for the software if there ever was one!