[CentOS] Live CD?

I just used a Live CD for the first time today, in part to show what
CentOS can do for a co-worker who is looking at using it at work and
home, but I got the strangest result.

We booted the CD and let the centos user log in.  It took a really
long time to load the desktop and there were no panels, so the only
things we could do were browse the computer, CD, home, file system,
keyboard (sort of) and pretty much nothing else.  <alt><f2> and
<alt><f1> did nothing, either - no menu, no input windows - nada.

Is that normal?  If not, what did I/we overlook?  I was expecting a
lot more, and from looking around the wiki, there should have been,
but I couldn't find a good reference for what the Live CD is supposed
to be able to do or let a user do.

Thanks.

mhr