I'm looking for a new computer to replace my P166, and I've been wondering for some time if buying a Mac, and run SuSE for PPC on it, would be a good idea.
Depends. If you're gung-ho about Linux, go for it.
As far as I understand, Apple has its own flavor of Linux, named Darwin, on top of which OSX runs. Yes I recall their infamous ad 'Send
Mac OS X is not linux. Darwin is not Linux.
very grateful to the ones they took it from, it seems. AFAICT, Apple was never very good at marketing, and this was another bad move.
I have absolutely no idea where you got that idea from, but it's completely incorrect. Apple has had some of the most memorable marketing campaigns in history.
Anyway, I wonder if it would make sense to install SuSE on it, since Darwin is already there? But could KDE, Gnome or some WM be installed on that?
Depends on the hardware. I would never bother installing Linux on a fast G3 or G4 machine, but an older G3 or 603/604 machine, sure..go for it.
I heard rumours that the only available office application for the Mac is MS Office??? And Internet Exploder is their default browser???
Hrm. No, again, that's totally false. There are a couple "office applications" out there. Nisus Writer (suite) isone, Appleworks is another, Microsoft Office is yet another, and OpenOffice is coming soon. Internet Explorer is the default browser for now. However, there are many alternatives. Opera, Safari, Netscape, Mozilla, OmniWeb, iCab.. Internet Explorer does not take over the system like it does on Windows. Apple has released an X11 package for Mac OS X. Many existing open-source projects compile & run just fine on Mac OS X. There are many "ports" setups for Mac OS X. fink is one, darwinports is another one. You also have quite a bit of commercial software available, should you be interested. Give it a whirl. Try them both out. But I would not suggest installing Linux right away without giving Mac OS X a serious look.