I have not seen much talk on this list concerning the "growth" of Linux on 
the home desktop.  Specifically I would like to ask; what characteristics 
will a successful distro need to employ?  How will the newest versions of 
Linux (ie. Lycoris (Redmond), Elx, Xandros, and OEone) fare compared to older 
favorites?  I think most would agree that Mandrake and Red Hat hold the 
majority of desktops for home users, with SuSe, Debian, Slack and Caldera 
bringing up the rear.   Will these distros lose market share?  Do you care?  
How do the "gurus" feel about the move to increase ease of use and the 
similarities to the Windows "look and feel"?   And lastly, have others on the 
list tried these new distros?

I would like to add that I defend the newer distros.  After using Red Hat 7.2 
and Mandrake 8.0/8.1 I have installed and used both Elx and Lycoris.  I am 
using Lycoris Desktop/LX now and find it the most "ergonomic" desktop version 
of Linux to date.  Since I only started using Linux four months ago, I cannot 
give comments with any real historical perspective but it would seem these 
newest distros are definately trying to steal away some Windows users by 
incorporating many of the same characteristics found therein.  Although I am 
slowly learing the command line, I have yet to need it using the Lycoris 
distro.  And in my opinion...thats a good thing.

Comments?

Thanks to anyone who replies.