Can attest. Used Linux as primary OS for last 2-3 years in college, then got a job doing development on Linux, then worked for a Linux startup in early 2000's (we hired a couple ex Loki employees). Linux on the desktop has been a roller-coaster movement since not long after it's inception, likely around the time KDE and Gnome were released with some level of maturity. There was always the ported desktop managers but I don't think it's had much viability for dominance until OpenOffice came along.

Oh! Someone that remember Corel OS. I have one disc yet somewhere...

Yeah :). I was mostly using Slackware Linux at the time, but my brother bought a Corel Linux box at the time. If I remember correctly, it came with an inflatable Tux.

I also had a separate copy of WordPerfect for Linux for a long time. It still worked fine until I sold it on eBay, thanks to libc5 compatibility in most distributions. Even though I stopped using it at some point, I continued to use the Type 1 fonts that came on the CD.