You are looking at this from the anything-but-Microsoft world. The "real world" is far easier than you think.
The "real world" I live in is not so easy for the Windows user. I have Windows XP, Red Hat 8, Red Hat 9, and Debian running on my laptop. Every one of these OSs loads drivers and runs my Orinoco Silver wireless card except one: Windows XP. It just won't work.
Oh, it installed the driver off the CD just fine. It even worked once during the first week I had the laptop, but now, nada. No error messages, nothing in the event log. I've tried updating the driver, booting with it in/out, inserting it while running...nothing. Double checked the keys and SSID. In the Linux world, I can dig as deep as my ability allows to solve a problem. In Windows, I can research as far as the event log, or if I pay thousands of dollars for a development kit, I can dig as far as the API level. After that, I'm dead in the water. I could try to e-mail the developer of the XP PCMCIA subsystem, but I'm afraid no one at Microsoft cares. No help at the manufacturer web site either. I simply can't use my perfectly good Orinoco card with XP. It worked fine with my last laptop and Windows ME, but I don't have a license for ME any more since I sold my last laptop.
>The Windows user gets the Windows Media Player out of the box. MP3? >Streaming audio? Streaming video? DVD player? CD ripping? CD burning? > It's all there. The Windows user needs to do exactly NOTHING to get >all these features.
The Windows user also get the Windows Media Player EULA out of the box. Stealth uploading of your playlists to Microsoft? Windows Product Activation? Passport required for Microsoft web sites? The ability to install and run any program Microsoft wants on your computer? Can't delete IE or MSN Messenger? The right for Microsoft and the BSA to kick your door in to audit you? It's all there and the user needs to do exactly NOTHING to get all these features. In fact, the user has NO POWER to turn off all these wonderful features.
For the Red Hat user, it's often the things you DON'T get in Windows that make it the better choice.
Best Regards, Keith -- LPIC-2, MCSE, N+ That's your shadow on the wall Got spam? Get spastic http://spastic.sourceforge.net
