there are better magazines then Format these days, and include DVDs (and are cheaper).
Linux Format is so, uh, tabloidy. Lots of news granted. But little else in the way of
depth compared to Linux+ and the other one, the title escapes me.
--- On Sat, 8/30/08, Ray Arachelian <ray at arachelian.com> wrote:
  From: Ray Arachelian <ray at arachelian.com>
 Subject: OT: Free Linux and OpenOffice - even if your email address doesn't end in
.edu - (was Re: OT: Microsoft crazy academic deal)
 To: "On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
 Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 11:32 AM
 tonym wrote:
  I thought some of you might appreciate this...
 Microsoft is offering for one day only, today, Office 
 Ultimate Edition for $59.95.
This has
  everything in it, I think retail is like
$500-600.
    
 <Devil's Advocate Mode>
 Linux $0, *BSD $0, 
OpenOffice.org $0.  And you don't
 have to be a
 student or teacher.  It's the same price no matter what
 TLD your email
 address is behind.
 Infact, some will even send you the install CD's for
 free incase you
 can't afford the network bandwidth.
 
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/  (and they're not
 CD-R's, but professionally
 pressed.)
 and: 
https://www.cdearth.com/index.php?page=shipping
 Some low cost ones:
 
http://www.linuxonline.biz/index.php?cPath=36
 If those aren't good enough, find a large News/Magazine
 store that
 carries Linux Format (it's a British large format
 Magazine with a DVD) -
 they usually go for around $15 and the DVD has several
 Linux Distros + a
 ton of software - odds are it'll include a Linux distro
 that you're
 after + open office and a ton of other useful free stuff,
 and it's still
 cheaper than the MSFT drivel.
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&f…
 Note that this is 2008 and current Linux Distros are very
 very
 friendly.  Infact, it's a lot easier to install Linux
 than it is to
 install Windows these days, and they do support most
 hardware out there
 without futzing with drivers, and they'll work just
 fine with older
 machines - no need to buy a new computer every time MSFT
 puts out a new
 rehash of its malware.
 There's really no excuse to use that nasty Redmond
 trash anymore.
 </Devil's Advocate Mode>