[LivinLOS]

I agree with a lot of what you say Burg but I also get tired of Linux apostles that dont recognise the facts out there..

You say a PC purchaser spends 2 - 300 USD on a windows licence when its well known that bulk purchasing for system builders like dell spend nothing like that amount on a licence.. Why would they when a full retail pack is far cheaper..

Comparing gimp to PS CS2 (the magic brush feature alone is a killer app) is not realistic to me.. gimp has nothing like the feature set of CS2 for digital photo work..

So you never use any wintel box.. What mobile phone do you use ?? I dont know of a single GSM mobile or smartphone that will sync with linux.. Dont say I should give up functionality like a good mobile backup system ??? Why ?? I also think your external HD is a fluke rather than a common occurance.. I needed some pics from a mates digicam the other day.. Plug in via usb.. Device found, identified, driver auto installed and drive mounted without even touching the PC.. Try and get the pics off a digicam onto linux..

Linux on laptops is a very hit and miss affair.. Supported hardware and driverless systems that only partially work because there is often no true support system in free software is another large issue...

Also I work with video encoding a little.. WMVHD high definition DVD's are a killer app.. quite simply linux will not get this working.. Shame as studios are releasing hidef content right now (I have a media PC wired into my home theater)..

Gaming.. Lets be realistic there are very few ports of current titles..

Do any of the online retailers (i tunes etc) work on linux ??? You claim users can 'do anything they want' but thats clearly not the case.. Also while the OS remains very stable I have found linux apps that do crash, code compiled for one derivative or flavor not being totally compatible accross all tree forks etcs.. My wintel boxes stay up for weeks at a time also without reboots.. The continual knocking of windows on stability front just feels odd to me when I hardly ever have a crash and when I do its app related rather than OS related..

Dont get me wrong.. I think linux is a good OS but I am OS agnostic, I use what feels right, while in the server side linux wins hands down for desktop use I dont find thats the case..