At the risk of seeming like I'm telling you to go back to where you started, if you find yourself wanting the full set of latest'n greatest software, I don't know if CentOS is most ideal.
I didn't think I did want the latest'n greatest. Following the instructions to configure KDE was not an attempt to get some new super-cool feature. I just wanted some themes. Not particularly fancy themes, I just wanted to change the look of my desktop. I didn't think that would be a particularly shock inducing task. If I did end up upgrading or advancing beyond what CentOS was designed for, it was only through faithfully following the instructions to get themes working. The only cutting edge software I was looking for was the OpenOffice beta, and that's only because I already have .ods files created with the Beta version from when I was running it in Windows. Other than that, I don't aspire for anything bleeding edge, just more or less the same hardware and application functionality I used to get in Windows. And I'm more or less there. The only things on the task-list are Palm Pilot connectivity and Japanese input, which I'm led to believe are possible in CentOS.
I can't remember, but what was the main logic of your move to CentOS?
Logic? What is this "logic" of which you speak? I don't know the meaning of the word. One morning I woke up and a synapse fired in my brain that said "You must make your computer as open-source as possible NOW! Obey me minion, for I am your brain and I seek to destroy the convenience of your workflow for arbitrary and inexplicable reasons!".
Dave