Ubuntu? Maybe they should consider renaming it to Ubiquntu. (as in, "you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone that's using it.")
I've tried Ubuntu off and on over the past year, downloading the Live CD and test driving it on X86 and PPC. It had a very polished desktop and package of applications, but there were always these minor issues (i.e. unsupported model of wireless, or having to backup my hard drive and repartition in order to turn my laptop into a dual booting Xp/Ubuntu laptop, etc.) that kept me from making any long term use of it.
Well, this weekend, due to a combination of two factors, I've decided to give Ubuntu a longer trial period.
One: Thanks to a wonderful little installer/hack called Wubi, I was able to install Ubuntu as a boot up option without the inconvenience of backing up, repartioning and restoring my Windows hard drive. It basically creates a linux partition inside of a large file (4 or 5 GB) on the Windows partition. Very slick. I don't know why this tool hasn't gotten more buzz than it has, because I think it's pure genius.
Two: Although Ubuntu uses 2.6.x kernel, it still didn't seem to find the Dell TrueMobile 1350/Broadcom chipset WiFi card quite correctly enough to give me wireless functionality. Fortunately, uber-geek David Watson had the same problem last May and was thoughtful enough to post his solution for anyone else who might come along with the same problem in the future. Once I followed those directions, my wireless card sprung to life and started working flawlessly (including, I might add, support for WPA2 on my home access point).
For sheer ease of use out of the box, I think Puppy is still the distribution to beat . . . but Ubuntu offers a heck of a lot without the child's bike/training wheels feeling that I get from Puppy.