We've always given this product the highest praise in our reviews. With little debate, Linux Magazine awarded version 7.1 Client Distribution of the Year in our September 2000 awards issue. Now version 7.2 succeeds its predecessor as the best end-user and newbie distribution on the planet, raising the bar for all distributions to follow.
Mandrake has cutting-edge enhancements.
Mandrake's graphical installation program is one of the best we have ever seen. It mimics a flight checklist and allows you to easily retrace your steps if you want to change any important parameters. For example, say you chose a desktop configuration with low-security default settings. Even at this point, you can still change to a server installation with high security by simply clicking the Select Installation Class entry in the checklist bar, and proceed with the install without having to go back and re-configure any other part of the process. From our standpoint, Mandrake 7.2 is as well balanced and innovative as a Linux distribution can possibly get.