What Windows lacks is the ability to configure everything... this is where linux and UNIX has it all over windows, but... you have to deal with it's complexities to do it.[snip]
Things average people want to do are:
editing and viewing documents of various types
web browsing
chatting on the internet
playing with graphics
playing with audio and video
spreadsheets and other mathematical stuff
some web development and programming
While many of the points of your original post and thread are true with regard to ease of use of each system, and you correctly mention the infinite configurability of linux since you have the source, I think you are leaving out many the huge downsides of Windows XP (and beyond).
Not only are you prohibited from configuring many things in the system, you can't uninstall many programs (like IE and Media Player) even if you wanted to. Even if you spent years studying the insides of Windows and figured out HOW to completely remove IE without crashing the system, you would be legally restricted from doing so (yes, the latest court ruling allows you to hide it from the menu, but it is still there). See, the EULA of Windows essentially says that Microsoft owns and runs your computer. You can pay to rent some use out of it (after paying for the hardware of course), but you don't control any of the software.
Where this gets scary is when Microsoft starts renting the apps to you in timeslices, this is their trend and they prefer that you rent their apps. This is the direction of Licensing version 6. Then, all your data is locked up in proprietary formats and you have to keep paying the rent to have access to your own data!
They are also working feverishly on Digital Restritions Management (sometimes called Digital Rights Management) to prevent you from ripping your own CDs to MP3/Ogg, or making legal copies of your own videos. And Windows XP does not ship with support for MP3s without a third party plugin. Further, Palladium or whatever they are calling it today is aimed at taking more rights away from you.
I won't even get into their legal history or behavior. The bottom line is that you give up control of your computer and your data when you use Windows, and you will lose more control of both as time goes on. You are also supporting a group of very unethical people, at least at the highest management levels, who are not concerned at all about your interests, just your money.
Best Regards, Keith -- LPIC-2, MCSE, N+ Wake up, baby, cause I'm coming to you from the future -- D Wyndorf Got spam? Get spastic http://spastic.sourceforge.net
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