Harry - most people (like me) don't know what applications they 'need' when they are new to linux - or what applications are available other than searching / trawling a long list. A self-contained LiveCD provides an OS an a working desktop to do most office activities - a good starting point.

Why Kanotix? For me and many others, it works. I've installed it on a variety of desktops (PIII upwards) and laptops with a variety of hardware and, so far, I've had no installation problems. They also have a great community via a forum and IRC to 'instantly' solve most problems. It can also be used as a (familiar) LiveCD for helping other people out with their MS problems.

On the downside, it is based on Debian Sid and, if you dist-upgrade most days , there is the odd 'hiccup' although I've had virtually no downtime in the last 10 months since I moved from XP to Kanotix. (I'm about 12 hours behind most people in dist-upgrading so most of the problems are identified by the Kanotix developes by the time I wake up!) The upside of Sid is you learn a lot on the way! Adding new programmes is easy as things are always up to date and, hence, there are rarely dependency issues.

As an alternative, you could go with Etch or other 'stable' distros if you want but my set up is where Etch will be in 4-6 months time.