But, I must say, I hardly ever use any of them any more. I have found very suitable open source replacements for them. The only pay software I use for Linux is Pixel, which is only $35 bucks, and does just about everything Photoshop does.

I also found early on that if you want to run Linux of any flavor, HP computers and peripherals rarely ever are a problem. I have 3 HP’s just right now, and all three run Linux. Also, all three use HP Printers, Scanner, and Copiers.

It may take a bit more work to get a free operating system running when you don’t know how to use it, but once it’s up and running, you’re set. It’s well worth the effort. My wife and even my 5 year old son love Linux and neither has had any issues using it.

I see this as 4 areas where businesses are putting their heads in the sand, hoping Linux will just go away, and missing out on a huge opportunity while doing so.

Folks have used the “brush-fire” approach with Linux since 2000, hoping that if they just starve it long enough it will snuff itself out. But if it was just a fad, it wouldn’t have gotten to where it is.

Linux has grown leaps and bounds WITHOUT their support, imagine how fast it would take off WITH their support. If they’d just start with Hardware driver support and Services (again, like iTunes), the rest will follow.

As for games, I personally feel that’s a non-issue, since most gamers play on game consoles. Sure, a computer can play games, but the computer is like the Industrial Revolution…all this stuff came together on it in the beginning, making it the must-have house-hold appliance. But now you have phones that do email and task management, iPods/mp3 players that do music (and video), and game consoles that play games. Specialty appliances provide users alternate choices to their computer, and this is where Linux is really stepping in, since it’s a prime candidate for most folks to use for embedded devices.

As for Microsoft, Apple, etc…I really don’t care about OS wars. All I care about is vendors being stupid in a capitalist-sense, and turning their back on a growing market. Someone’s gonna swoop in when they’re not looking, then they’re gonna come crying later, wondering why they’re not a part of the huge Linux buzz.

And then what…is Microsoft & Apple gonna lobby congress to bail them out, like the airlines do whenever they fall short on funding?

I wan’t to make a comment on your 4 points.

4. The problem is habits. I’ve been a Windows user since i was 4 years old. Now i have 25 and i’ve changed to ubuntu since the feisty version. And i can assure you that it’s only a matter of habits.

3. I had some problems with some of my peripherals, but linux users have spent a lot of time breaking there heads to solve some of the most common and not so common problems. There is always someone with the same problem, and nearly always someone has a solution. Love XXI Century, google and the new fresh brains… XD

2. Sorry, but i think you don’t know wtf is going on with the games in pc’s. If you install great games such as Quake I, II, III & IV, Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, F.E.A.R, and many others i can show you a benchmark done with my computer under Windows XP SP2 and Ubuntu Feisty running Beryl and you would discover a new world. Laugh about windows and it’s 2 billion services running when you only wan’t to play a game. LOL

1. I’ve got an ipod and iTunes sucks. It eats your memory ram and a huge amount of cpu when you encode from/to your ipod. For windows the best application would be Foobar with foopod included and if we are in linux, please take a look at amarok. One more thing, do you know that iTunes does’n work when you want to move only one, or two files from any peripheral. That means that if you want to delete some files or change them, edit them or anything else you are going to find a big problem under iTunes. On the other hand, what you get with foobar i can’t explain it, it’s orgasmic… … And when you arrive to ubuntu, and you meet amarok!!! WOW I love it’s search bar, it’s like a google of my 120 Gb of music…

it’s quite clear that you’ve not tried any solution before writing

and also that you try to use GNU/Linux with a Windows-user attitude

so you are wrong, my friend

if you want the out_of_the_box thing, just stick with Windows and you’ll be happy

but do not talk about things you do not know