Distros...

Not a completely accurate description on why many departed Mandrake.

The professional version I bought didn't even let me know how badly the installation failed on
an IBM T-30 laptop.  Long story ...

In desperation I tried Fedora Core 3 on the same machine, expecting serious problems.  It was
a dream installations where nearly everything that I can remember just worked.  [I was not so
happy with later versions.]

On the desktop, for a time I was happiest with Debian (mostly) Testing on a stable base along
with a few items from Unstable all with working dual monitor setup that was all trashed going
to 3.1.

Very reluctantly and slowly did I move to Ubuntu (5.10 an update from an unused 5.04),
compared to previous experiences it was not stellar but certainly workable with some
irritations. I too was skeptical of Ubuntu's overly enthusiastic user base.  Nonetheless, I
could live with that version of Ubuntu, because other work I had to do was more important.
Moving to 6.06 in clean installs was a great improvement. However, I have been waiting for a
later version.  I tend to update Firefox early.  Now I cannot run even all the 3.0 betas.
They stopped working at beta 2 and beta 4 cannot even attempt to start.

It is unfortunate that the supposed long term, stable release will not live up to its name.
For now I will just upgrade to the last short term release and decide what I might try in its
place.  However, Mandriva is unlikely to be the one selected due primarily to past, less than
satisfactory experiences.  I should mention too that I was a Mandrake club member at the time.