There are more than 21 700 packages in our repositories. And that's just for the 64-bit branch.
The total number is double that – and then if you consider the backports, and the packages in the Cauldron still testing... you'll see that Mageia users are spoiled for choice.
Here's a cross-section, first of the working graphical environments, and then of the core applications you could be using on your desktop:
Mageia 3 has all the major desktop environments:
And then there are the window managers, including Openbox, WindowMaker, IceWM, Fluxbox, Fvwm2 and Awesome.
There are many, many to choose from – including all the most popular.
Choose your web browser from Firefox ESR 17.0.6, Chromium-browser 26.0.1410.65, Epiphany 3.6.1 or Opera 12.15 – or one of the many others such as Lynx or Konqueror; then pick an email client from KMail 4.10.2, Thunderbird ESR 17.0.6, Evolution 3.6.3 or maybe Claws-Mail or Mutt.
Choose from Kopete, Pidgin, Empathy or Kadu for instant messaging; use Quassel, Konversation, XChat-Gnome or KVIrc for IRC chat; try QuteCom or Ekiga (or even Skype) for VOIP.
The two full-featured office suites LibreOffice and Calligra are there, as well as AbiWord, and a host of text editors including Kate; for finance there's KMyMoney, Skrooge or the professional-level GnuCash.
Use GIMP for powerful image manipulation, or Inkscape for vector drawing; Blender is there for serious animation. DigiKam or Showfoto will take care of your photos, talk to your camera and give you more basic image editing.
For playing audio files, choose from Amarok 2.7.0 and Rhythmbox, among others; use VLC, Totem or MPlayer for video and for audio, or use the XBMC Media Center as your home entertainment system. Some packages can be found in both the Core and Tainted repositories: the packages in the Core repository support only non-patent-encumbered codecs and the packages in the Tainted repository support all codecs, for users who live in countries where those codecs don't infringe local laws.
For editing video files, try Avidemux or OpenShot; for subtitles, there's Gaupol or Subtitles Composer; use MythTV, Miro, tvtime, FreetuxTV or Me TV for watching or recording TV programmes.
Then there's ZoneMinder, for CCTV Security; VirtualBox or WINE for virtualisation; and a range of development environments such as Anjuta, Eclipse, Netbeans or KDevelop.
For more information about these and other packages, check the Mageia 3 Release notes.
You can take a look at the Mageia Application Database to get a more complete list of Mageia packages.