Ok... so I have downloaded VMWare images/appliances (instead of using VirtualPC, though once I select the one I will use, I want to run an install in VPC first before I go slapping it on the real system) of several Linux varieties.  I have loaded several of them up and played around and I like the KDE (Konqueror environment?) that the SuSe and Mandriva VMWare images are using as a front-end... though it definitely takes getting used to.  It appears they tried to model it after Windows to make it easier for Windows users, but it is still different enough to take some learning.

I can't say that I've really delved in to any of them enough yet to say which I like or not, but just that I'm glad to have a GUI.  I will learn the console commands, of course--out of necessity, I'm sure--but I still prefer a GUI to set my options and stuff.  Time to pull out and dust off my book from a class I had 5 years ago (in Unix) and see what I can remember.

One thing I don't like about distribution "x" (fill in the blank there), is that by default it doesn't have a GUI desktop pull up after install.  It goes straight to a bash console first, and since it has been so long since I've used Unix at all (and frankly, didn't learn that much back when I did), it is really not that useful for me.  I no it is my fault for not knowing the stuff, can't really blame it on the OS.  It's just like the good old DOS days.

I also don't like the installation process for some of the applications... in other words, copy it, decompress it, call it good.  For example, I "installed" FireFox on one of the images I had downloaded.  Installing it consisted of decompressing to a folder of my choice, then trying to figure out which of the executable files was the one I needed to run the program.  What I haven't figured out yet, and will need to learn, is how the heck to get a recognizable icon on the desktop or in the "start" menu (for lack of knowing what they call it in Linux).  I don't care for having to open the folder, remember which executable file it was, and then clicking that one.

Those complaints are pretty superficial, however, so i'll forge on and see what I can accomplish.