Add China as major player to that list. They plan to have a computer (MIPS-based Loongson CPU running Linux) for every child in school and are currently preparing for a pilot-project which will deploy 10,000,000 computers in their schools to see how that works. Yes, 10 million computers are considered a pilot project for them, so when that works out for them we will see major increase in Linux usage and, as I think, major increase in numbers of Linux developers and large effort put in China's OS of choice.

I am running Linux for some 6 or 7 years and I think that is the best OS in World

If Gnu/Linux does get adopted on a huge scale, i just hope that proprietary software won't becomes so easy to get that the Free/open source alternatives will be forgotten and eventually abandoned.

May you try to explain that? Are you saying that when Linux gets widely adopted that you hope that Internet Explorer gets a port so that you aren't forced to use that dreaded open source Firefox? Or do you rather want to spend a 1000$ on some Adobe software instead of using the free GIMP?
Are you really saying that you want an open source OS to get adopted on a wide scale so that we can get rid of open source software?
If that open source software bothers you, why are you using it?

Sorry this is a definite typo, and if you look at my previous post in this thread, you'll notice it's a little bit contradicting to my normal opinion.
Here is what it should have said, and i will edit my post too, thanks for bringing this embarrassing mistake to my attention.

[QUOTE]If Gnu/Linux does get adopted on a huge scale, i just hope that proprietary software won't becomes so easy to get that the Free/open source alternatives will be forgotten and eventually abandoned.[QUOTE]

Ah, I really wondered about that statement.

why?? In what way it closed software *not* easy to get? As much as yum / apt are ace, the only real barrier is a cost when there is one. Winamp has been trivial to acquire for 15 years plus... Do you think that in an "ideal" world it was stopped and Nullsoft went under?

How many pages can pure troll-bait consume? Just wonderin' ...

hush. It's not like anyone is referring to the OP at all.

Oh, yeah. I forgot.

These threads remind me of the ones who say quite-scientifically that bumblebees can't fly. It's quite amazing to watch every such insect promptly fall out of the sky when that happens.

What i mean is every distribution shipping with the proprietary driver and codecs, proprietary browser plugins ect. If Gnu/Linux was adopted at such levels, it would be taking in a massive proportion of ignorance from the preWindows users. Stores that sell computers would be featuring Gnu/Linux. The people in charge of these stores aren't dumb, they're going to ship the product that's going to sell the best, and the products that are going to sell the best are the ones that the user feels comfortable using. Many Windows users wouldn't have a clue how to install the appropriate drivers for there computer, they wouldn't even know they exist; they're not going to want the trouble of worrying about them with Gnu/Linux either. What would be the fate of projects like Nouveau for example.

I've never used Winamp, and am not familiar with it, so i can't answer that question.

On a side-note, I still cannot comprehend how to install a particular printer driver under Windows 7 - but Xubuntu 12.04 makes it easy.

Perhaps the reason so many Windows users ("Microserfs") have no idea how to deal with drivers is that installation and configuration of those drivers is unnecessarily complex.

When I install new drivers on my Vista install or when I do a fresh install on a friend's computer the installation of drivers is as complex as repeatedly clicking on next. Configuration is almost never needed at all after installation.

from a personal experience, been using Linux for almost 2 years, I've had lots of experience and learned great many things. but sadly it came to a unfortunate end when unity was introduced into Ubuntu, today most distributions just look and provide the same user interface with minor changes.

I've been using ubuntu 7.04 for a long time, upgraded to 8.10 to 12.04 and now, i no longer use Linux, the only Linux software i use is the Debian Server or ubuntu server. thats all
I've gone back to XP with ssh,

Unity desktop, has ruined my experience, but there is light called Elementary OS when i will be using when it becomes more stable


so thats my experience

So you gave up on Linux completely just because of Unity instead of switching to something more sane, like KDE or XFCE? That doesn't make much sense to me, sorry.