"Ever installed Linux in a laptop? I think you'll find that the scavenger hunt for drivers is similar to what Gary experienced."
I've installed mandriva and ubuntu on a 2 year old dell laptop. With mandriva I had to download the firmware for my wireless driver. But with Ubuntu everything worked perfectly the first time: internet, sound, graphics. If I install a new copy of any Windows version none of those 3 things work perfectly until I download drivers off the internet. I'm very impressed with Ubuntu. I still use Win XP on my laptop and desktop as well, but from my experience it has been easier to get the drivers with linux.
"When you consider how many alternatives (often far cheaper, too) are available, it's a wonder that so many still choose to use software that leaves their systems wide open to exploitation, be it from worms, viruses, or malicious websites."
What you and many other people seem to overlook is that being the dominant os means that there are big advantages to using it. It may mean that it is targeted more (windows wouldn't be any less safe than linux if they were both targeted the same amount), but it also means that most programs are written for it. On linux or macintosh I wouldn't be able to use a large number of my programs and the vast majority of my favourite computer games wouldn't run either. I don't like windows particularly, and security is a problem, but it is a trade off I am willing to make for compatibility.
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"Ever installed Linux in a laptop? I think you'll find that the scavenger hunt for drivers is similar to what Gary experienced." I've installed mandriva and ubuntu on a 2 year old dell laptop. With mandriva I had to download the firmware for my wireless driver. But with Ubuntu everything worked perfectly the first time: internet, sound, graphics. If I install a new copy of any Windows version none of those 3 things work perfectly until I download drivers off the internet. I'm very impressed with Ubuntu. I still use Win XP on my laptop and desktop as well, but from my experience it has been easier to get the drivers with linux.
A normal keyboard with custom hotkeys set? It's a lot cheaper, and I find, more practical.
"When you consider how many alternatives (often far cheaper, too) are available, it's a wonder that so many still choose to use software that leaves their systems wide open to exploitation, be it from worms, viruses, or malicious websites." What you and many other people seem to overlook is that being the dominant os means that there are big advantages to using it. It may mean that it is targeted more (windows wouldn't be any less safe than linux if they were both targeted the same amount), but it also means that most programs are written for it. On linux or macintosh I wouldn't be able to use a large number of my programs and the vast majority of my favourite computer games wouldn't run either. I don't like windows particularly, and security is a problem, but it is a trade off I am willing to make for compatibility.