And the products are:

Window$ Home CRAP
Window$ Home Premium CRAP
Window$ Professional CRAP

And, the BIG ONE! Drum roll please...

Window$ ULTIMATE CRAP

On the contrary, capitalism and economic theory have conditioned most businesses, and many individuals, into believing that anything being given away must be junk. Why would anyone give something away if they could sell it?

When it comes to computers, many people are using them WITHOUT "half a brain". So many people use computers and are clueless about them. Most people don't even know what the phrase "Operating System" means. And few people appreciate that no matter how much MS, Apple, or Canonical "simplify", computers (both software and hardware) are fundamentally complicated. Probably more complicated that flying a plane - and while pilots are required to take hundreds of hours training (since if they mess up they can kill people), computers users are not (since if they mess up all they can do is unwittingly aid criminals to extort people...)

Also, 99% of computers sold come with Windows. Switching to Linux doesn't decrease the price - though at least it doesn't cost anything extra.

Hi,

If you understood or actually realized that the Open PC market is not due to M$ but IBM who released the system information and OS for $$ initially. M$ was against IBM doing the release of hardware and software information. Back in the early IBM-PC days, IBM made documentation available for a fee to anyone having a IBM-PC. That same documentation is what allowed and encouraged the PC clone market not M$. Who was adamant against what IBM was doing. That was just one of the tears in the M$ & IBM working environment or relationship.

M$ has been on the tails of the PC market. They locked in the OS and M$ Win environment to force users to remain via restrictions. The PC growth itself is what has provided M$ untold growth. Informed people are the ones who have implemented Open Source to utilized the PC to it's original design criteria. PC on every desk top! Personal (A personal item) Computer is something that a individual shoulld be able to utilize without restrictions. The only logical and legal way would be to use a Open Source or FOSS with a Free license. So GNU/Linux is one viable option that many people are now utilizing. The ones that are not informed and wish to spend their money are left with M$ or alternative machines that are even more costly, Apple anyone? At least Apple has an OS that doesn't lock it's user in or ties their hands via a restrictive license like M$.

As for your Government standards question: The blind attempting to lead the blind. Money pit! Scientist that work with the government do use GNU/Linux. The problem is the infection of M$ and COTS within most government projects. Government bodies that wish to continue with locked in software (COTS or GOTS) that has cost $$ and poor performance that must be interfaced with a work around or patched have delayed the implementations. Informed users are the ones that are leading the way for FOSS within the workplace not the ones that are lobbied by M$.

Actually those people are not assured that a PC will not function unless the Win Automatic Update is enabled. And even then you had better have secondary safe guards in place. If you call it exciting as to not having a valid recovery/backup method or being infected by a virus generated by a kiddie then you had better have your populace inoculated for idiocy.

Sure the GNU/Linux, FLOSS and FOSS are still growing and evolving into a viable option to the well informed and not brain washed individuals to utilize on their Personal Computer. Instead of someone lock stepping with a big corporation that doesn't have anyone but their corporate needs/greeds in mind spilling propaganda to blind the facts.

So if GNU/Linux, FLOSS or FOSS are so bad then why do so many larger corporations continue to use, encourage and implement the option?

Spew your vial venom now! M$ is one of those same that lobbies the U.S. Government. I don't know of a GNU/Linux, FLOSS or FOSS lobbyist group to the U.S. Government.

Even Hollywood is embracing linux. Linux+ magazine (January 2010) issue did a feature article called Linux Movies.

I am going to tell this story again: My friends were trying to compete in an event (Air Guitar, although it was more choreography than moving hands back and forth) at my school, and they couldn't have been qualified for the competition without me. I helped edit their remix for them so it was acceptable.

And guess what I used to get my friends qualified? Audacity on the Lucid Lynx. Proof that Linux is fully capable of appealing to the media savvy.

on attack of the show yesterday they visited skywalker ranch and they were showing the animation process for the clone wars and i saw a kde screen on one of the animators desktop. i was surprised because i assumed they all used macs.

Yes, Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones was done with linux.
http://digitalcontentproducer.com/dc...nux_hollywood/

Now, Linux+ magazine doesn't have the article online yet, it's available in the print version only, which I have. But, you can see an excerpt, a short headline at
http://lpmagazine.org/magazine/1012-...r-linux-secure
Scroll down until you see Linux Movies.

The article talks about the popular software used like Maya, Renderman, SoftImage, Houdini, Combustion and Nuke to make the special effects and more.

Here's a list of movies in the magazine article.

Star Trek (2009)
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Xmen Origins: Wolverine
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Monsters vs Aliens
Disney's UP

Here is another article from Softpedia, discussing linux in Hollywood

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Holly...ux-45571.shtml

I don't mean 'half a brain' in terms of ability to understand how a computer works or how to use it, I mean just in terms of cost effectiveness. People are willing to make compromises if the overall cost would drop down, but Linux does't have any distros worthy of competing with 7/XP or the desktop market, so that's why MS dominates.

No.

It's because people don't know anything else exists. It's also because they are raised with Windows (because that's what their parents and freinds use).

And then they find Linux too difficult because they have to relearn everything (if they ever find out about it's existence).

And since Windows is supplied with the computer, the overall cost can never drop down for domestic users.

And again, most people don't even know there's an alternative to Windows. People aren't happy with Microsoft software - many, many people complain about their computers. But there's the problem - they just see it as the whole computer, they don't know Windows can be changed. They don't know the difference between software and hardware. They don't even know Windows can be reinstalled - they complain that their computer is "getting slow", most often because of malware, and they assume they need to buy a new computer.

It's like someone complaining their car engine isn't working right, and not knowing the oil needs changing or that there are different brands of oil. Of course few drivers are that clueless, but many, probably most, computer users are.

I can say with some degree of confidence that I believe where Linux can really offer savings is in small businesses. Ever tried to manage several Windows machines? I have to for my work, and it's hard. Active Directory is way out of our price range - you're talking several hundred pounds for the Server OS, however much the hardware is, and MS make you get the "client access licenses" for every computer you have.

So what happens in most small business is they don't manage the computers. And all the software versions get out of date, and Windows update doesn't work, and people are using IE6 because they don't know how to upgrade, and anti-virus subscriptions elapse, and computers get malware infected or otherwise messed up, and it's all a horrible mess.

If I had my way, I'd make Linux the primary OS on most of the work PCs. Users can't have more trouble with OpenOffice than they have with MS Office 2007 (nobody seems to know how to use Office 2007).

If they're having problems figuring out how to use Windows can you imagine how many problems these end users would have trying to use Linux? It's not because they're accustomed to a particular product, it's because they enjoy using windows products and they're reliable. The linux community is so anti MS that they close their eyes to the obvious truths.

Including a weekly BSOD.

most people would credit apple with making the pc more ubiquitous.i already addressed this and i usually dont repeat myself but you seem to be selective with your facts.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post3948107
*nix is very prolific in the business world.

edit: i dont remember anyone saying that linux doesnt need updating but i may have missed that post.
but since *nix runs most servers/ routers, it is very important that they are updated. i would say that it is more important than running windows update since there is more at risk.

Linux rules !!!

Probably about the same.

Oh come off it. Few weeks ago one of the PCs at my work BSOD'd, refused to boot, and I couldn't even read the drive - the Windows NTFS filesystem had become totally trashed. I had to use PhotoRec - a Linux-based tool - to recover what data I could, then reinstall Windows. I still have absolutely no idea why the failure occurred.
Windows systems can get compromised by viruses just by visiting a website.
And then there have been numerous problems caused by Windows update.
Heck, it's got to the point where Windows Update will detect a certain rootkit, and not apply an update because applying it would brick the computer. From a security perspective the correct thing to do IS to apply the update - making a rooted computer unbootable is better than leaving it rooted really. But MS would rather have happy users unaware their computer is owned.

Saying Windows is reliable is like saying politicians are honest.
Of course, there've been unreliabilities with Linux too. I haven't forgotten the Ubuntu update that broke X.