OP:
I think you may have missed the point, let me try and help with some misconceptions;
Linux isn't an operating system, it is the kernel on which the operating system is based. Linux as a kernel has many advantages over Windows as a kernel, many are mentioned here (
http://widefox.pbworks.com/Kernel-Co...nux-vs-Windows) though this is a little clinical. The major advantage is the speed that a more bespoke kernel gives; because you can load kernel modules on the fly in Linux and can have it fit your system, as opposed to high Minimum Hardware Lists, things tend to run quicker. The Open Source element of the Linux kernel also helps a hell of a lot due to the amount of people acting, almost, as a sort of QC department.
Your points, though:
1- Most users would rather sacrifice prettiness for an operating system that works, case in point is the amoutn of users who went back to XP over Vista, or didn't upgrade at all (Resista the Vista, anyone?). You can have all the pretty you want on a Linux system, and you can have it as bare as you want. On Windows 7 (and certainly Vista) its reasonably difficult to do this, though changes may be made to the Win7 RC to aleviate this.
2- You're overlookign why we use the terminal so much; speed and ease. Skeptical? Okay, lets look at it this way; because many people have many different setups, Desktop Environments and such, it is hard to walk through in a universal way how exactly to set something up or change something. It is far quicker to suggest someone open a terminal and paste something in. It is far quicker, also, to make changes via the terminal than graphically- for instance, I want to add a line to a config file. Which is quicker? Clicking open a text editor, navigating to the file, editting the file, saving, reaslising I don't have the priveleges and doing it again, or typing in
Code:
echo "some text" >> /etc/some_config
bash: /etc/some_config: Permission denied
sudo echo "some text" >> /etc/some_config
3 - I don't think you understand what a distribution is. The point of package managers is that there are tens of thousands of packages on there, many packages for any programme you want;
Code:
jc@jcmain:~$ apt-cache search web browser|wc -l
260
Where could you find me that in Windows?
4- I'm not even going to touch this one, you sir, are an idiot.
