With the exception of a Canon scanner, every device I have plugged into my Ubuntu Linux machine has worked. Sometimes it has asked me if I want to download and install the proper drivers, and having answered yes, it all “just works”. I have had lots and lots of trouble getting things like scanners, printers and network devices to work under Windows.

With Linux, I find I am immediately productive, and do not have to waste time tracking down obscure little faults. My Linux machines continue to work year after year without suffering “OS degradation”, whereas I find I have to do a complete Windows re-install every six months or so to regain the performance I had when it was last installed.

I know my Linux machine does not snoop through my application collection and report what I am using to Microsoft. I know this because I am able to look through all the programs installed in the OS and read about what they do on the net.

Best of all, with Linux, there is no registry to get corrupted. All configuration files are human-readable, and easily found in the /etc directory.

When you say windows has the most hardware support, that’s not completely true. Most peripherals (mp3 players, video cameras, sound cards) have drivers written for Windows (sometimes Mac too). I will give you that. But when it comes to the architectures that Linux can run on, Windows can’t compete. There are lots of other architectures out there (Sparc64, PowerPC, MIPS, alpha, amd64, ia64) and Linux has extensive hardware support for a majority of them. That’s not very relevant to the consumer standpoint, however. :/

When you brought up your Reason #3, it just seemed kind of harsh. A lot of Linux distros are developed with the help of grants and collaborations with developers of hardware. This has helped with completeness of a lot of hardware support, however, some manufacturers are not releasing and code or designs to the community to help support their hardware. It seems a little absurd considering that HP (who has Windows on pretty much all of their comptuers sold, not incudling HP-AIX and UX.) has released open-source printer drivers for Linux that supports a vast majority of their printer product line (My multi-function HP Deskjet P4280 All-in-one works great on Fedora 11). The problems with wireless cards have been disappearing slowly as Broadcom and other networking chipset companies have been releasing code and providing their own proprietary drivers for Linux (available in Ubuntu repositories, nonetheless).

Another tough to ignore point is that a lot of manufacturers have been rolling out netbooks with Linux on them (Xandros, Linpus, Ubuntu). Since the Linux netbooks are the cheapest, people will probably be buying them mostly if left to their own wits (if there’s not a geek squad member or somethign nearby trying to sway them away from them). The Eee has great hardware support for printers and wireless cards. Vodafone, a UK telecom company, has released their own driver utiliites for the Eee’s Xandros for full support for their modems (You can take advantage of things like SMS messaging via computer). That’s bringing Linux’s market abundance up (at least in the consumer market).

Just thought I’d add my 2 cents since there’s a couple of Linux Zealots commenting from what I can tell. I’m not much of a Linux zealot, I have 2 PCs. My main is running Windows 7 Build 7100 and my secondary (a laptop with a broadcom wireless card) is running Fedora 11 with wireless drivers easily installed via rpmfusion and yum.

This is not really keen on reply, just a couple of my thoughts.

Linux is not security through obscurity. It has a _PROPER_ permissions system so that the user isn’t running as root/admin the whole time.

The only time I would recommend Windows is if someone plays videogames and hasn’t discovered the PS3, is too lazy to learn about Linux, or uses certain Windows only applications.

This is my favorite line: Reason 3: Your other choices suck.
Yes, Rich….you sound like you have much to teach us idiots. I stand in awe at your wisdom.

It looks like you’ve been using Linux longer than I have (I’m also probably younger) and you still have yet to understand it or the philosophy behind FOSS. Worst article I’ve read in a while.

Try looking around the site next time.

“Linux’s only saving grace is the fact it’s free because no one in their right mind would pay for this crap.”

Do Linux seems a crap to u?

Every OS has its own Pros and Cons.Have u ever tried *NIX distro’s?
If you didn’t yet then you don’t have any right to say like this because developers are maintaining support for it free of cost.So just think how much times they are donating from their end.Will MS support ever do same? Will u donate one-tenth of your own time to develop a free tool?

If tried then I can bet that you’ll never say like this and its a possible chance also that U’ll never turn back towards Windows.

Please let me know if you’re having anymore.