Mandrake Linux is a popular and user-friendly distribution and it offers a choice of window managers.

Despite various attempts at Windows Desktop alternatives, Linux is still best suited to servers, for which Red Hat is by far the most popular choice. With this in mind, it came as no surprise when in May 2002 Red Hat split its product line in two: Linux and Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat's latest offering is a finely tuned offensive into the lucrative corporate desktop market. With the Linux steamroller on a collision course for Redmond the last year has seen a number of major wins for the open source upstart with corporations such as IBM and governments that include Germany, France, China, Japan, Russia and Britain either already making the switch or considering it. And not just for servers, but on workstations too.

Not only is SuSE Linux Professional 8.1 the most complete distribution, it's also one of the friendliest.

The first problem you face when reviewing a Linux reference title is that you know youre on to a loser.

Recognising that the Linux desktop market is only going to grow, and that there's money to made in the corporate arena, Sun's Java Desktop 2003 is squarely aimed at companies looking for a cheap, easy, and compatible alternative to Microsoft's (often expensive) dominance.

Blizzard Entertainment has sewn up a huge potion of the strategy market with its Warcraft series, and the keenly awaited World of Warcraft looks set to carve out a nice piece of the MMORPG scene for fans of the franchise.