As a user, I’ve never found a reason to favor either Gnome over KDE over the other. Something light like OpenBox works just fine for me.

I switched from Evolution to Thunderbird for two simple reasons: Thunderbird is available on all platforms I’m likely to use and Thunderbird’s Enigmail extensions just works, while I could never beat Evolution’s crypto stuff into submission.

An application I can’t live without is VMware

I’m running SuSE 9.2 but heavily updated (e.g. KDE 3.5.3).  The apps I like best:
Email: Kontact (setting up encryption/PGP signned emails was a breeze)
Web: Firefox
Music: Amarok
Video: Kaffeine
Editor (GUI): Kate
Editor (CLI): Joe

APT4RPM makes adding/removing/updating applications a breeze.

If you want more suggestions for applications, maybe you could mention what sorts of things you’re looking for?

As for your Evolution/Exchange problems:
1. Is the mail server running MS Exchange 2000 or newer?
2. What version of Evolution do you have?
3. What version of the ximian-connector do you have installed?

Les, it’s great that you’re giving Linux a go. I’ve been using it since the mid 90’s, and it’s come a long way since then.  I’m currently running Suse 10.0 (haven’t bothered to upgrade to 10.1 yet, although I’ve got a test system running with it). I’m using KDE as my Desktop (can’t stand Gnome).

Here are the apps I use most:

Email: Kontact
Web: Firefox
Music: XMMS
Video: mplayer
Graphics: Gimp
Editor: Kate (pico for the shell)
Office: OpenOffice
Bittorrent: Azureus
Virtualization: vmWare Server Beta
VoIP: Skype
System Monitor: xosview

For my intranet I use (of course) a LAMP system based on Apache, MySQL and PHP.  I’ve got a custom CMS running (based on what I programmed for my employer), but am thinking of changing to PostNuke.

I’ve basically relegated my Windows PC to playing games, since most of the interesting games (such as Oblivion) are not available for Linux.

BTW, switching from Gnome to KDE (and back) is really easy: First, make sure the required packages are installed: start Yast and choose Software Management (under Software).  Make sure the filter is set to “Selections” and that both “KDE Desktop Environment” and “GNOME System” are checkmarked, then click “Accept” to start the installation.  After that, end your current session. In the lower left-hand corner of the login screen you’ll see options for Language, Session, etc.  Click on “Session” and select which display manager you want to use.  Log in (you may have to confirm whether you want to use the selected display manager as the default, or just for this session), and presto - you have the desired graphical desktop.

A more detailed list of must-have applications:

xterm
vi
emacs
ssh
rsync
...

You get the idea

For those interested in Linux + games (to remove the necessity for one more “must have Windows” installation) you might look into Transgaming (formerly Cedega - http://www.transgaming.com). I’m looking forward to playing with it soon so as to drop the remaining windows system off my home LAN.

Or you can play games that have Linux ports (or are native to Linux), such as:
Unreal Tournament
Anything by ID software
qGo
Tux Racer
Frozen Bubble

Additionally, there are sites out there to help you find Linux games: KDE-Apps’s games section, Happy Penguin and icculus to name a few off the top of my head.

Hey Les,
Long time reader, first time post.  Been working with linux for many years, but I am one of those unlucky few that cannot quit Windows.  So naturally, while embracing the strengths of both, I like to use applications that are similar between the two.  Here’s a summary/comparison between both worlds:
Linux vs.  Windows
xmms(audio) WinAMP
xine(video) Err...nothing like it!
gedit(text editor) Metapad
kwifi Windows Wireless Config.
gedit + gcc/g++ Visual Studio
konsole cmd.exe

I prefer KDE over Gnome, but also prefer some Gnome apps over the KDE counterpart.  Gnome vs. KDE almost equals Windows vs. Mac, with gnome being sometimes more polished, with unexpected extras.  KDE is VERY similar to Windows, I find that it is easier for me to configure, especially since I’ve dealt with each since Win3.1 and KDE < 2.0.  Linux allows you to pick and choose, so I encourage you to do so!

It is always fun to balance the options of updating a linux system.  One option is update and do it often; to always have the latest.  May fix some bugs, but may create others.  The other option is to sit on a config that works and just let it ride.  This especially comes in handy when you are using ndiswrapper to make a windows driver work on your linux conf.  Especially for wireless on laptops.

I LOVE Linux for developing C++/JAVA apps, it becomes quick and easy versus Visual Studio, especially if you have a personal organization system for libraries and project files.  Gedit allows syntax highlighting (along with tabbed documents) for many different languages, providing some of the nice things of VS, without all of the bloat.  Debugging is easier in VS, so don’t make a lot of mistakes!

Haven’t done a lot of WebDev in Linux, so I don’t know what is out there.  MySQL and Apache are easy configs for a quick testing server solution.  I’ll use my linux box as a database server and test apps over the network. 

Hope some of this helps, and none of it hurts, Linux is ALOT more approachable than it has ever been.  Still not ready for Joe and Jane Simpleton, but getting better everyday!

Sourceforge rocks for solutions to problems, and I am convinced that if it doesn’t have it, you don’t need it (Kinda like Wal-Mart). Linuxiso.org links to every major distro, so if you have fat (phat?) pipes, download all of the distros and have fun at home finding out which one you like.  I ran with Suse for a while, tried Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake, and Slackware, but I eventually setttled on Fedora.  For me, it is easy to set up, yet powerful out of the box.  Plus I love the Yum update manager. It may be command line, but it is fast as hell!

I apologize for rambling, but Linux vs. Windows is a semi-religious litany in some circles.  I think both are great, and try not to jump on the fanboy bandwagon(s).  IMHO, computers, as a rule, rock.

Longest…
Post…
Ever…

Later.

Another native Linux game:

Neverwinter Nights

The choice of distros amounts to a religious war… I doubt there’s a “best” Linux distro in any meaningful sense, it’s just that you have to find one that suits your wants and needs.

For many years, I’ve used Linux on servers exclusively and for most of that time, Trustix 1.x was just fine. A number of things went wrong for Trustix during the timeframe of the 2.0 release and we ended up using Debian. These days, I’m leaning towards either CentOS or Ubuntu for both server and desktop use. YMMV, so stuff it