SuSE 9.3 Professional

Out of all the Desktop Environments available, I usually stick to KDE, unless I am forced into another. So all screenshots will be under the K Desktop. SuSE 9.3 includes the latest version of the KDE, 3.4.0.

Novell includes many packages for new, and advanced users. First and foremost, it comes with Mozilla Firefox 1.0.3. Shortly after 9.3 was released, Mozilla released Firefox 1.0.4, so you will want to upgrade to that after you set up the OS, because it includes important security patches. They definitely encourage all users to use Firefox though. Upon hitting your desktop, a Firefox icon awaits. Konqueror is built into KDE, and is one of the most popular Linux browsers out there as well, but Firefox contains so much more, and has limitless capabilities, as most are aware.

Also included is the latest version of OpenOffice.org (AKA OOo), the 2.0beta. Open Office is very similar to Microsoft Office, except this is free and open source, and built on Java. OO just keeps getting better, and is no doubt better in some respects to MS Office. In each new version, they continue to add new features, and in the 2.0 release, that’s an understatement.

Writer has so many features and additions, it’s hard to keep count. You have a huge array of documents you can create, including Text and Business Cards. Impress is an awesome replacement to MS PowerPoint, allowing you to do everything it can. It even has the ability to create Flash output files of your presentations. There is so much more new though, so I recommend you check out the official OO site here.