> If other software companies weren't such assholes themselves, linux might not be
> such a bad option, but as it is, the average user is either fucked or screwed.

It depends what software you need, but for the average user who just wants to browse the web, check their e-mail, watch movies, scan photos, instant messaging, etc etc, Linux suits those needs now and it's simple enough for the average user. It wasn't good enough a year ago but things have progressed.

Software for Linux by commercial providers is starting to show up now that the OS is actually viable for a larger group of people. Before now the concentration has only been on the server or as a hobby OS, but now it is being used seriously by a wider group of people than just hobbyists/servers.

People are realizing that Windows is not enough for the average user, as it is now over 80% of desktops have some form of spyware on them and there are enough viruses and exploits going around to guarantee a huge number of clueless people are going to be infected. SP2 is but a start in heading towards the right direction but a lot has happened before even that step was taken. Security is just not tight enough and it's insane that it's gotten to this point, especially when you consider that it happened just because Microsoft has ignored security.

Anyway it's not like Linux is getting the most attention, it's just getting a lot more than it used to, and some people believe it's a great solution. It might not be all the time, but right now in many more cases it is, and a very important part of that puzzle is flexibility, and Linux just became a lot more flexible and desirable to some companies. There will be a lot more commercial interest in Linux and perhaps when there is enough of a user base more games and stuff will start appearing for it. There already are a few, even Doom 3, UT2K4, and The Sims. Granted it's not much but even the Mac had a modest beginning in that department, but it will get there somehow because enough people want it to.

Even now Cedega runs most new Windows games, there are good emulators for all systems, the media players play all movie and audio formats, TV capture cards and PVR are supported, Crossover and Wine run many Windows programs, Mono allows cross-compatibile programs between Windows and Linux and is an attractive development platform, many programs that run on Linux are becoming popular in the Windows world such as OpenOffice, Audacity, Gaim, Abiword, Gimp, VideoLAN, FireFox, Thunderbird, and there are many applications gaining interest such as Inkscape, MythTV front ends, and there are enough Linux-only applications that are nice alternatives to Windows applications such as K3B = Nero, Ark = Winzip, MPlayer = Media Player, XMMS = WinAMP, Rhythmbox = iTunes, xMule = eMule, DCGui = Direct Connect, GThumb = ACDSee, gFTP = CuteFTP, Kuickview = irfanview...

More important are the things it does that Windows doesn't do, you don't have an antivirus taking up CPU cycles, you're protected with NX in software and only SP2 and Win2k3 Server do that, you don't have to worry about constant patching and whether you WANT all the automatic updates, you don't have to worry about updating your software seperately (everything updates through auto updates), you have the right to use all of the software and the software is licensed to protect your rights, it's amazing how much you get, the software is yours to do with what you want.

The GUI can be drawn with double buffer and 3D acceleration already which is nice even to speed up the normal 2D GUI, you can access your desktop anywhere at almost realtime speed with VNC or even manage everything through telnet, it's amazing how easy it is to get along without the GUI when you need it, you get simultaneous users logged in with their own desktop (switch between CTRL+F-keys) and their applications are not put on hold when you switch, you get so many things by default that you would have to go and download such as weather indicator on your taskbar, dictionary software, PDF reader, firewall, PPPoE software, all your drivers are already included, etc.

Things are pretty comfortable for the Linux user. It might not be ideal for everyone but it's amazing how far it's come, in what ways it actually surpasses Windows, and how much better it can get from here.