Give me MS Office 2007 (I'd rather not support it), Adobe Photoshop (hell, gimme the entire Adobe Creative Suite 4), proper printing (PostScript Level 2 and higher) , Autodesk 3ds Max or Modo 401... and not crappy psuedo-knock-off wannabes and I'll stop using Windows or OS X.

Linux has had 10+ years, hasn't happened yet. Won't happen tomorrow. So that's some people still use Windows.

Not all tools have been migrated, ported, approximated or replaced with better options...

I do miss the days when Autodesk was multi-platform...

I understand the position some Linux/*nix/alternative platform supporters have on the different platforms of the market. From an engineering point of view, the Windows platform is inferior and problematic, and maybe even simply boring.

It is not the first time the "inferior" product, or tech with less features gets the hold of the market. Happened with FireWire versus USB. Betamax versus VHS. <insert your preferred network here> versus Ethernet. Smartphones/iPhone. CP/M-86/UCSD p-System versus PC-DOS. SPARC versus x86. There are many more examples, but those I get from the top of my mind.

Many times the winning tech gets the upper hand not because of its inherent superiority, but because of market forces (be it price, availability, user appeal/marketing, etc). And that can be infuriating. I completely get it, everytime an iPhone user comes to me excited and show me some "new" feature that I had already on my E61 years ago. You get also some "elite" satisfaction... knowing you are years ahead of what the common user thinks is new.

However, the truth of this game is that the mass market is not a meritocracy. Probably will never be. Entire business cases (and very successful ones) have been built around the fact that the a lot of users wants the slickest, fool-proof, easiest, and comfortable solution, without caring a lot for what is inside. That a lot of users just don't care about the tech they use. They only want a black box.

What I don't get is what these group of supporters want to do about it. Do they want Linux to triumph? To obliterate the competition, with them at the vanguard? To get at least more credit and recognition?

If so, then you will have to court the mass user, not dismiss them. You will have to be patient with the mass user and spoon feed them. You will have to offer more than the competition, way more, for less. You will have to climb a very steep hill. You will have to use market tactics. You will have to understand that elements that you think you have in favor are of little or no value to the average user. And yes, it sucks.

You will have to get those big and evil corporations on board as well.

All that comes for a price. Maybe some governance over the system will be lost. The system can become so massive that it will not have anymore the aura of "only the elite knows to use it" that feels so good. Maybe the triumph won't come at all!

If someone is willing to do that, despite all the work involved on it, then my best wishes and good luck! I'll give a hand when and where I can. And take a look to Ubuntu, because those guys know what they are doing.

If not, shut up already. Whining doesn't take you anywhere, and no one wants to listen to it anyway, so don't waste your breath.

John, I get the feeling you're deliberately ignoring some important points. Like where I said I was OS agnostic. Maybe you're looking for a win in a no-win argument.

Ok, like dormant said: you win.

But the objective reality is, you went one way, others went a different way, and it is what it is. There is no reason I can see for such religious hatred. But you're certainly entitled.

Can we discuss the netbooks without further hostility?

mrojas, here's where I wish I could reciprocate with those thanks.

The religious aspect, as far as I can tell, came from people getting in my face about refusing to buy a windows product (meaning: they introduced religious intollerance into the discussion, not me). So, if you want to point fingers, and want to stop that part of the discussion, stop being one of the people pushing it forward.

Up until the "right tool" quip, all I did was:
a) say that I refuse to buy it, because (as far as we know now) it only has support from the vendor to run Windows.
b) reply to follow ups about _why_ I'm taking that position.

If you want to buy it, or other windows systems, go right ahead. I honestly don't care, as long as I'm not asked to administrate or support them. But if (the collective) you are going to challenge me on why _I_ wont buy one, expect to hear my full opinion about why _I_ wont buy one. And don't then turn around and act like _I_ am the religious zealot -- that finger pointing goes just as firmly in the direction of people who refuse to accept that some people legitimately wont buy a windows based system. I also don't eat liver, nor listen to opera, does stating those things also get me singled out as a religious zealot?

The only hostility I've seen is: people knee-jerking about me stating my preference.

I hate Microsoft. There, I've said it now about 6 times in these forums. Should I put it in my signature? Nothing religious about it; just common sense to me. And there's nothing to discuss. Consider it an opinion and move on. Stop whining about people hating Microsoft or their products. I'm here because Nokia created semi-open versions of GNU/Linux based tablets. Period. If these things were running WinCE, you would never have been bothered with me. And if some of you don't get why some of us would be very disappointed with a Nokia Recommends Windows announcement, who cares. But thanks for giving me another opportunity to say that I hate Microsoft.

Cheers!

The funny thing is we're here on a Linux, FOSS, forum. Why are some of you so amazed to find that there are people here that prefer Linux over Windows?
Isn't it obvious that when presented with a generic win32 netbook we're saying "meh".

Netbooks are ment for couchsurfing, they don't need specialized software or a specific OS. If you have made yourself homebrew docking stations with 30" double monitors at work, home and in the garage, and use the netbook for rocket science... then you're clearly pushing the limits and aren't exactly in the target audience so it's most likely that you'll be able to install whatever OS or software you need by yourself.

Anyway the Booklet doesn't give a Linux option not because Linux fails in some way, but because there's no OVI Suite and Nokia PC Suite which are entirely Nokia software. So it's Nokia fail.

And about return rates... again if you don't know what you buy it's all your fault. You can't run in circles and pretend "people want this and that, they don't care etc."
I find it amazing how a whole culture has it's Personal Responsibility gone AFK! It really stuns me, the same way I can't understand how you put up with everything the big corporations serve you.

a lot of jaw jacking about one's loyalty to something or another... when honestly it shouldn't have even come to that.

I pledge my allegiance to no tech companies
All they want is my money. And all I want is their tech..