Customer Reviews
As good as it gets for a non-commercial Linux distribution. 
2008-01-08
You start off with a Live-CD which virtually everyone offers these days. It's a great way to try before installing.
To install just double-click on the "Install icon" on your desktop.
And unlike the ever-popular Ubuntu distro, Mandriva One comes with NVIDIA/ATI video drivers, Sun Java and Adobe Flash right out of the box. You don't have to go hunting for them later. They are installed automatically.
I've been an Ubuntu user for most of the past few years. I decided to give Mandriva a try and frankly I find it even better for the average user than Ubuntu.
The installation was even smoother. And unlike with the Ubuntu Live CD, Mandriva one also gives you the option to run the installation at startup without running the Live CD itself. So it works either way.
And personally, I find Mandriva's ia ora theme to be the best around. It's very attractive without being overbearing (and unlike Ubuntu's, it's not brown :-> ).
And unlike the confusion Ubuntu causes by their "Kubuntu" distribution (Ubuntu has GNOME, Kubuntu has KDE), Mandriva is Mandriva, period. The Mandriva One Live CD comes in two versions, GNOME or KDE.
After installing either, you can always easily add the other if you desire both (as I do). The RPMDrake graphical installer is about the best I've seen and I've used a number of Linux distros over the years. And just like any other major distribution, Mandriva's repository has thousands of programs. Most anything you want is easily found and installed, via the RPMDrake application. It has a very slick GUI.
I don't know how others here can feel the opposite that I do. It's great, and all the "professional" reviews I've read, agree.
Note: while MndrivaOne costs nothing (if you download it from any number of Mandriva mirror sites), Mandriva is a for-profit company and they offer their "Powerpack" which comes with more free software (as well as some good commercial apps) and direct support from Mandriva that's not provided with MandrivaOne (or "Mandriva Free).
Comment on previous review 
2007-09-27
Mandriva One is a stripped-down version because it is to be run through the ram and cd or dvd player on your computer. The live version are usable as an installed OS. If you are interested search Linux google and check out a current review on Mandriva Free.
Not recommended 2007-05-12
Mandriva One is a kind of stripped down operating system for users new to Linux.
It has basic programs included--like Office Writer (which easily interprets Word for Windows files)--Linux web browsers, firewalls, calculators, email clients and so on. But for the fancy stuff, users need a more comprehensive system such as Mandriva 2007, or the Mandriva 2007 Power Pack. The Spring 2007 version of Mandriva 2007 includes KDE 4.0.
After trying Mandriva One on a new machine several months ago, I can only say, I don't recommend it. It's too basic, and not worth it, now that Mandriva has worked out some of the bugs from its newest 2007 generation.
