Derek, Craig and others all have good points. It has been said that there is no wrong answer, you just haven't come up with the right question. Could we be trying to provide answers when we haven't heard the question. Maybe we could have (at the InstallFest) a team who would (first) interview the newbie (with soon to be Linux box) and determine a good (There is no best unless the objectives are clearly defined - and they never are) distro. Things to consider might be: 1) Firewall Requirements. 2) Is it to be a Server. 3) Is the user interested in Sys Admin. 4) Potential Geek or hard core newbie. 5) and the list goes on.... Also, Maybe (per Michael) we could have presentations (or papers) covering he aftermath of the new relationship (based on distro selected).