Hello everyone: Is Linux getting fat? In a word, yes. But, I think the extra weight is due to market demand and the mind set of the Linux distributions to offer more, not less. Bloat is really based on preception. A professional writer may need many of the features found in OpenOffice or WordPerfect. The ability of the software to: track the changes of multiple contributers, number every line as might be needed in legal documents, or to perform a mail merge as part of an advertising campaign. To a professional, all of these are necessities, not bloat. No, you don't need OpenOffice to write to your maiden aunt or a grocery list. In the same way, you don't need all the features found in a spreadsheet if all you're doing is tracking your monthly living expenses (rent, electricity, heat, parking, etc.). One of the most attractive features I've found in Linux is that these feature-packed programs are available. A friend recently suggested I might be able to use Tuxcards. A quick look in Yast and I found that I already have that program, I don't have to search the internet for it nor download the program. It's already available. The beauty of Linux is that it offers so many choices. If you want to use the command line - no problem. If you like the GUI, then you can choose KDE or GNOME (to name only two). Linux gives you choices. Linux gives you recovery mechanisms that work. Some like Red Hat, other Mandrake, while others like SuSE. I think one of the greatest strengths of Linux is its ability to offer the user more than one way of doing things, in other words - choice. But, regrettably, the numerous choices available to users comes at a price, a price some call bloat. cheers, Mike