Why on earth do all of these so-called "perfect desktops" just rely on installing some n packages? By that measure any reasonably-supported distro could become the "perfect desktop".

What about wireless? I have a functioning wireless connection with my Vista desktop. However it seems really hard to get going with Ubuntu. I can't figure out exactly what to do with Ndiswrapper and if I need a new driver. Can't I just use what I have on Linux if I allow proprietary stuff?

Wireless still seems to be the most annoying thing about Linux.

There is no open-source replacement for Excel or Photoshop.

Excel is the language/IDE in which many of the world's financial models are developed. Everyone I've heard from who's in a position to say something on the matter has indicated that it's virtually irreplaceable. It has many hidden features and tricks which cannot be replicated in OpenOffice Calc.

Agreed, there's no replacement for Excel for financial modeling (except maybe ResolverOne, and that's more a migration than a drop in replacement).

However the big money these days is made by quants who use more complex, and more accurate, tools - in particular, R, SciPy/NumPy, and S.

Gimp is absolutely a replacement for Photoshop. Not necessarily adequate for professionals, but a replacement nonetheless.

If it doesn't produce prepress output, it isn't a replacement for Photoshop.

Lolcats and photographs of models changed to look like comic book superheroines are accidental use cases for Photoshop.

So this so called "perfect desktop" prescribes no less than ten media players and four cd/dvd rippers and burners? Would it be less than perfect if I only installed two or three media players?

...And it is making the "true Windows replacement" approach - again (so many)... Gimp=Photoshop, OpenOffice=MSOffice, yadda-yadda-yadda... Need a great Linux desktop setup? Find distro with the best package manager and packages for your needs and install the software to suit what you are trying to get done... Need to edit a Word doc? Install Abiword or OpenOffice... Need to edit a JPG? Gimp. Related note: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22perfect+linux+desktop%22

flagged for howtoforge linkbait

Too bad there is no 64-bit version. I've been on 64-bit for five years. Why is everyone else taking so long?

(8GB of RAM here on main workstation.)

So we've learned that Windows has the best desktop system? Title is misleading here.