Corel Linux may not be ranked as highly as the likes of RedHat in the Linux World, but the reality is that it offers an excellent introduction to the OS for Windows users. This is largely due to its installer, which offers excellent hardware detection and a friendly graphical interface to hide all the complex stuff going on in the background, and it has to be said that Corel did a much better installation job on our test PC than some of the other distributions.

Microsoft recently invested $125 million in Corel, which has helped Corel stay in business. There are many rumours flying around as a consequence - none of them substantiated - but judging by our tests, Microsoft couldn't have chosen a better Linux company to 'buy'. Corel Linux installs everything necessary to participate in a Windows network, so network shared drives can be mapped, printers accessed, and so on. We were also impressed by how well the graphical environment, KDE, was configured. Corel has provided a good choice of applications, but not so many that users will be scared off. This is in marked contrast to the 1,800 applications supplied with SuSE on DVD.

Although probably not the Linux of choice for system administrators or small network servers, Corel Linux is a good choice as a desktop operating system, and is targeted primarily at home users. However, this version is not so easy to buy in the UK. It seems that Corel is only selling this new version through retail in the 'states, and in the UK it can only be purchased through Customer Services. Time will tell if this is sufficient to reach Corel's target audience.