I had a relatives Dell Inspiron 1300 in for "cleaning" few days ago and it reminded me that there are users out there with adequate hard ware - that just need 
a understandable desktop -  without 3D fanfare and indexed searching widgets (i.e. no resources sucking frills that would tax an aged/slow 2.5" 5000rpm hard drive / bog standard hardware) 
core business apps i.e. LibreOffice 4.3.x 
a fully functioning version of firefox with flash and java compatibility
a PDF reader
a good media player. 
a solid imap mail client 
a usable ical compat calendar 
also its not really enterprise class (more good enough), it doesn’t need to be updated every 4 hrs and its available in 32bit version on an easy to install CD rom. 
Most importantly Its aimed at an average skilled person i.e. a skilled plumber, rather than a science graduate. 
after 10 years - has anyone settled on a distro(s) / distro version that tick this box/ out of the box? 
 
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