Consider, what does Linux do for the average user that Windows does not? Surf the web? Nope. Word processing? Nope. Financials? Nope. Instant messaging? Nope. The arguement for general market acceptance is a hard one to make at this point. You have to realize, that means not me or you, but our parents and nontechnical friends. My dad frankly does not care what OS he's running so long as he can get his stock quotes, do his online trades, write his emails, and call it a day. Yes, it's true Linux can do all that...but it's *way* more difficult than in windows. (Also, the whole lack of a leading browser is a big problem. NS cannot compete with IE5 at this point, but that's another story.) See, my parents don't care about being able to telnet in. They have no desire to tweak their X setup to run perfectly on their hardware. They already paid for their win98 and if there's no compelling reason to switch, they're not going to. Remember, Linux is only free if your time isn't worth anything...
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Consider, what does Linux do for the average user that Windows does not? Surf the web? Nope. Word processing? Nope. Financials? Nope. Instant messaging? Nope. The arguement for general market acceptance is a hard one to make at this point. You have to realize, that means not me or you, but our parents and nontechnical friends. My dad frankly does not care what OS he's running so long as he can get his stock quotes, do his online trades, write his emails, and call it a day. Yes, it's true Linux can do all that...but it's *way* more difficult than in windows. (Also, the whole lack of a leading browser is a big problem. NS cannot compete with IE5 at this point, but that's another story.) See, my parents don't care about being able to telnet in. They have no desire to tweak their X setup to run perfectly on their hardware. They already paid for their win98 and if there's no compelling reason to switch, they're not going to. Remember, Linux is only free if your time isn't worth anything...