Linux Rises to (or exceeds) Vista's Challenge

Two Linux distributions are considered excellent alternatives to Microsoft's offerings.

With Microsoft's launch of their new Vista operating system, several factors will have people looking for alternatives:

Vista is relatively expensive, coming in six versions each more expensive that the other, with many people requiring features available only in the most expensive version.
Vista requires a very powerful hardware system to run - and some surveys have indicated that as much as 80% of current systems in businesses do not meet the minimum spec. So upgrading becomes even more expensive.
The current Windows XP operating system will be pulled from the market shortly after Vista hits store shelves - so a reasonable Microsoft alternative is no longer an option.

Many will be looking at alternatives in general, and Linux alternatives in particular.

According to this article, "eWEEK Labs believes that either Ubuntu 6.10 or OpenSUSE 10.2 is worthy of replacing Windows...".