sorry to hear about your WiFi driver problems.

I messed around with RedHat Linux around 2000 and honestly think Linux has come a long way over the last decade, while Microsoft has gone backwards: In some ways Windows 2000 Professional was the best desktop operating system they ever offered.

In most cases, trying to install Linux on a machine that came bundled with an OEM version of Vista Home will not cause you more grief than say trying to install XP on it. Yes, some devices will take some hunting for drivers, but most if not all will work eventually.

It’s easier when you buy from a manufacturer who bundles Linux, such as Dell who offer a range of machines with Ubuntu already preinstalled.

As for Microsoft Office, I have only installed OpenOffice on my new machines for several years and even removed trial version of Office when came bundled because I didn’t need them. OfficeOffice.org Calc is the main app I use from the package, mostly for things like expense reports or income & company tax preparation. I am not a heavy duty user, but I rarely have any problems.

The other day I had problems printing a Word document on a machine that still has Office, so I loaded it under OpenOffice on my main machine and it printed fine

I had to revert back to XP because linux kept disconnection my WIFI. Plus you can’t run Microsoft Office with out a great deal of pain or wineing. Open office is nice but its spread sheet sucks.

yes, even those Motorola 68xxx’s were light years ahead on Intel’s 808?’s in their day.
Its a shamefull wonder that those piece’s of junk PC-x86 architecture’s ever made it. ?!
But if you’re smart, you can sell anything!, and M$ was smart.

That was then, I think These Windows’ days are slowly but surely coming to an end.
(PC) Hardware and Software has become much more interchangeable, modular, virtualized, especially across the myriad of “open” OS’s, and “RIGHTFULLY” so. -It just can’t be ignored anymore.

It’ll be Linux/Windux for PC scrap, and already it has become the BSD/Unix derivatives for the Apples, … .

Just the Administration/Maintenance of these is a no-brainer comparison.
“…telephone Microsoft support to Activate your copy of …” blah blah blah what a _____ wa$te of resources for shite. -goodbye !

Yup, Microsoft will probably dwindle away slowly with their Applications, and they are already buying/investing up in hardware companies- who are themselves building more and more for Linux compatability anyway.

Windows servers will be a joke of the past.

As far as the Home/Desktop goes, well lets face it, once those “really-big” Gaming/Multimedia application companies finally-start seeing the light then that’ll be the last scale-tipper needed.

thats fine by me.

It’s certainly a good sign when a major player such as HP who is not only big in PCs but also printers and scanners, signs a partnership with Canonical, as well as supporting Red Hat and SUSE Linux on their servers.

MSFT will give the OS away, or pay netbook vendors to take it with co-op marketing money, to keep the Linux market share below whatever that point is.