I know I am going to get staked for this - but I used the Windows 7 beta for quite some time on my media box which had Vista on it before. While Vista sucked, Windows 7 was a nice change - it performed quite well - in fact so well that I changed from Ubuntu on my Laptop to Windows 7 RC.

Quite frankly the slowest computer I have right now is my Linux Ubuntu server. And previously all my computers (3 + a linux PDA) were all Linux.

Now of course while I will give the Windows 7 a chance (actually it doesn't recognise and enable the sound device on my laptop - common problem), I will in all probability change back to Linux if it doesn't REMAIN fast after I have installed all my needed apps and filled it up with more crap along the way. That's the real test.

In the future, OS allegiances will be recognized as true religions

May the eternal penguin bless you and keep you......

The only Windows avatar that comes to mind is the BSOD...

Either Gates or Ballmer will do. Especially Ballmer.

Only if it's a pic of when he went into gorilla mode at that conference.

I purchased one of the original series of eeePCs (actually the 8G), because it was small, relatively inexpensive, AND came with Linux. Given ASUS current stance, I won't be buying from them again.

When I got my wife a netbook, I got her an HP netbook with XP-Home. HP, I think at least seems to be somewhat Linux friendly. It's on my list to put an ubuntu variant on it.

One of the issues with Linux only on a PC is the cost of later adding Win XP. The OEM version of Win XP Home is about $89, the non-OEM version is about $179. Yet from what I've heard getting XP pre-installed on a netbook adds maybe $15.

I think it is more about the apps then the OS for many people. You may love Linux, but if you can't find a "real" native equivalent of your applications for it and if Wine doesn't work satisfactorily, then you will still need a windows license to dual boot or run in a virtualized environment -- and that is where for many it becomes cost prohibitive if their computer didn't already come with windows.

The best choice may be to buy linux friendly hardware/computers, but also to support software that meets your requirements and runs on linux. For my photography needs, I've purchased Bibble for raw conversion, because it has a linux version. It is not as full-featured as Adobe products, but it is good enough for my needs and also for me works better and more efficiently than the free alternatives.

At the moment my family uses WinXP, but I've gotten them to use OpenOffice, FireFox and ThunderBird. So when I get them to eventually dual boot (using a common vfat partition for data accessible from either operating system), I can probably get them to be in Linux 90% of the time -- but the other 10% of use still needs Windows, and a Windows License.

im envisioning a blue "daemon" with a black halo and a msn butterfly wings...

im kinda partial to the gates of borg image that slashdot uses...

and that alone stinks of anti-competitiveness to high heaven...