I have been working with computers for upwards of 40 years and regard them and their operating systems as a hobby and a career.

In reading through most of the Bug#1 posts I seem to have missed what to me is the most important point of the issue.

It is one of perception.

Someone (not me) said that "Perception is reality" - not sue who, but they were correct.

Outside of the Linux community I believe there is a huge perception gap between what Linux is and what it does.

I believe the only way to correct this is to deal with the perception.

Most people vote with their wallet.  If Linux is to replace Windows in the marketplace then the buyer must be given a clear message as to why (or why not...) to go with Linux.

It is correct to offer the buyer a choice but I feel that the buyer would not have enough information to make an informed decision.

Linux needs a place in  buyer mindspace and it is just not there.  Think back to the days of Visicalc.  The buyer would totally want to the get the software for his or her business.  The next question is what does it need to run it on.  Answer: Apple Plus (or whatever...).  The application software drove the hardware...

Note I said _application_ software.  Now its the OS that drives the hardware.  Do you not see that whining about Vista not running well on existing hard is short sighted.  It was not MEANT to run on existing hardware.  It was meant to drive the hardware replacement / upgrade channel.

I have vacillated between Vista, XP and Linux for the past few months as I feel it is time to take a decision.  There are applications that run only on Windows machines that I am not prepared to abandon in favour of a Linux alternative.  Linux to me is compelling but still falls short on getting me to convert over 100%.  Right now my question is whether to run Linux in a vmware workspace on the Windows machine, or XP on a linux host.  I'm not there yet on this.

Judging the dedication and effort that is being put into Linux by the community - I feel that it should be compensated in a meaningful and appropriate way.  GPL may be all fine and dandy but coders have to eat - do they not?

I believe buyers should be given an opportunity to vote with their wallet and reward achievement accordingly.  I am not talking about the huge budget MS uses to cram unfininshed software into the retail channel - but the buying public has become more informed about consumer choices and able to recognise value and suitability of purpose in their purchases.

The games arena is one of the sorest deficiencies in the Linux camp and unfortunately this arena is one that determines a majority of buyer choice - will it run my games...  Most of us have got our start in computers running computer games, then maybe programming, etc, etc.  

Game programming should be developed on an agnostic level - removed from the hardware level and dependencies.  Let the operating system provide the linkage for the human interface.  If this could happen then buyers would vote for the OS that most meets their needs and the games compatibility question would disappear.

I HAVE seen advertised systems with Linux as the OS here in Canada - advertised by Tiger Direct - so it is not rare.

Right now I'm battling Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10 and issues with Compiz - with varying success.  My strategy now is to wait out the known issues until they are resolved...  While XP remains in my back pocket for my "have to get one with it" stuff.

Fran McLoughlin