Have you gotten Linux to play with AD?

I would be interested to hear about Linux implementations in which Linux successfully coexists with Microsoft Active Directory. I have seen postings about AD4Linux and other solutions, but there are always unanswered questions.

1) Will these work when numerous different Linux distros are to authenticate as clients on Windows 2000 or 2003 Active Directories?

2) How comprehensive is the support? File sharing, printing, e-mail authentication, etc.

3) What about group policies? I plan on doing a separate posting about group policies soon.

Divided we fall

One problem with the Linux community is that the so-called cooperation in development of the platform is splintered across the dozens of distros. Computers will have to be used in the efforts to fight cancer and save the environment, but Microsoft charges hundreds of dollars for a copy of Windows and hundreds more for Office. Then other companies charge thousands for technical applications like AutoCAD. By shooting itself in the foot, this discord among Linux Devs is helping to allow MS to maintain its stranglehold on progress.

Damn Slow Linux?

Place your flames here! The information I read says that DSL (Damn Small Linux) will run on a 486 with as little as 16 MB RAM. So I figured a 300 MHz system with 512 MB RAM would really sing using it. Wrong. It was almost as sluggish as it was running PC Linux or Knoppix. I remember installing Red Hat 5.1 a long time ago on a 486 system, and it ran fine. What has been done to linux in the past 10 years that has made it so slow?