Rating: 
Summary: Don't Be Confused
Review: What follows is the review of someone who has more than 25 years on both sides of the Unix/Windows line and who owns no stock that would benefit from the sales of either.When you read all the reviews below, you might get confused, with ratings from 1 to 5 stars and the obvious pro- and anti-Microsoft commentary (this IS a Redhat review, right? Why do people feel compelled to throw in the Microsoft jabs? Very juvenile!) - so if you're among the confused, let me help you out. The clue to reality is found in the posts themselves - as you notice that the majority of reviewers feel obliged to tell you what kind of system they've installed (or not) Linux, right down to the drive types and the mouse pad they use. Why do they feel you need this information, which anywhere else would be totally boring and even irrelevant? Yes - you guessed it. Linux still has problems supporting a number of hardware platforms and devices - period. And, when new devices come out, Linux is slower than molasses in supporting them. Well, this level of "polish", if that's the word I want, is what you get with a lot of "open source" software - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, often critical or obvious features are missing. But hey - don't whine. "Everything is going to be fixed in the next version...would you please donate some money?".... When Linux arrived on the scene, the CONCEPT was practically spiritual - at one point I thought the Congress might rewrite the Preamble to the Constitution to say that all men were entitled to life, liberty, LINUX and the pursuit of happiness. It was all so very, very egalitarian. Free stuff....well, until someone started charging for it. It was the OS version of free love and hippie beads. Years later, Linux still doesn't measure up. It may sound like an oxymoron that Linux hides behind its "openness", but that is precisely what it does. You're never entitled to scream VERY loud about its shortcomings, because, after all, it is free....or it only costs a few bucks, and hey - it's....OPEN! Have some pity on the poor people who are working so hard to contribute to Linux, you heartless (grep .astard myreview > truth.txt). Linux has promise. In fact, lots of promises. The fact that it's the same promises they were making years ago is merely a speedbump along the pathway to Nirvanalux. And no matter how fast you drive it, Linux can never seem to outrun its kludge. So, I run it - mostly as a development platform for work, before running anything on the real deal (Unix or Windows - the operating systems that actually work). Crash my Linux, who cares? I never compile anything on it that doesn't go to backup first. And for those who claim constant crashes with Windows, I won't call them liars. I have an NT server that I can't remember when I booted it, a 2000 server literally running from the day it was installed a couple of years ago, but then again, I RTFM and I'm a trained system administrator. Could that be the difference? Probably not - my wife's Windows 98 ran for about 6 years straight until she upgraded to 2000 and she has never seen the BSOD. Notice I'm not telling you what platforms these systems are running on - because it doesn't matter. If you're seeing the BSOD in Windows, the most probable device causing your failure is YOU.
Rating:
Summary: Just buy Microsoft XP Professional
Review: When it comes down to basic computing, Linux lacks the functionality, software selection, or any other uses other than screensavers. Just use Microsoft XP, it has the best functionality, software selection and overall performance.
Rating: 
Summary: support actually goes until April 30, 2004
Review: While this isn't the strongest distro of Linux ever, the new threading code (supposedly the primary reason this is v 9 instead of v 8.1) isn't rock solid yet, and they've not fully integrated the new character set (makes the man pages hard to read unless you know which environment variable to change), the support runs into 2004. Despite what you might read in other reviews. :-) Older versions of RedHat, those that haven't already been removed from support, have support dropped at the end of 2003. Consider Suse Linux as an alternative. Or Debian. Or FreeBSD. Or even Windows XP, if you must. :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Red Hat 9.0--Linux Desktop at its finest (Or close to it)
Review: You may not want to upgrade if version 8.0 is doing the job for you. However, Red Hat 9.0 does have improved fonts and its stability is unmatched. Touting the Blue Curve interface, the desktop look is clean and uncluttered. If you use your computer for web browsing, email, word processing and contact management, you couldn't ask for a better mix of software, utilities and stabilty than that which is found in Red Hat 9.0. The only problem that I have with Red Hat is that it is moving toward a pay-to-upgrade system. You can install Red Hat on as many computers as you desire, but it will cost you to buy an "entitlement" so that you can upgrade via Red Hat's servers. Speaking of Red Hat's upgrade methods, it is server based not client based. This means that unless you verify your machine to the server (verify that you have the aforementioned entitlement) you will not be allowed to upgrade. Alternative methods do exist such as Ximian's Red Carpet but that is not without its problems. I used Red Carpet to upgrade my system so I would not have to pay but when I bought Red Hat 9.0, I had a system (Red Hat 8.0) that had been upgraded by someone (or thing) different than Red Hat. When Red Hat 9.0 went to install, I got a warning message that some of the files may be incompatible and cause system instability. I ended up doing a clean install. So, be aware of the upgrade situation. Otherwise, Red Hat 9.0 is a very stable system. And before I forget, even though RH 9.0 ships with mp3 support disabled because of patent and lawsuit concerns, you can easily restore this by downloading a small file, clicking it to run the installer and presto! Mp3 returns! A very stable product that's tops when it comes to ease of use. Highlt recommended.
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