This is just a Ludite response! You have NO idea what you are talking about, while I’m a Linux user of over 20 years & a Windows user up to and including Windows 7. Ubuntu Linux is EASY to load and configure, literally just as easy as Windows or a Mac for all the things a normal user would worry about such as email, network access/setup, etc.
The simple fact is that until Windows 8 the visual paradigm between Ubuntu & Windows isn’t that different.
I’m not a regular Linux user, but, every time there is a new release of Linux, or any of its distros, I’m one of those that “happily” goes to check it out, and many times actually install it, just to come away, again, disappointed. I’ve tried, since 1995, to see if whatever new release comes out, is the one to finally convince me that, it’s the one that can actually replace Windows. Every year, I keep hearing that, “this is they year of Linux”, only to be disappointed every time.
Sorry, but, you and others like you, will continue to preach the benefits of Linux, but, twenty years from now, you’ll still be doing the same, and Linux on desktops and laptops, will still be at around 1% of the market.
Linux needs to get away from trying to be “the replacement for Windows” and come up with new ideas about it should be the OS for computers. Trying to be like Windows, or the replacement for Windows, is not how Linux will evolve into an OS that will be adopted by a bigger set of consumers.
Linux is a moving target, with perhaps hundreds of distros and versions of those distros coming out in the last few years. Linux needs to settle down, without the geeks driving the development efforts, and without the geeks touting the benefits of the distros. There needs to be one major center for driving the development of Linux and the distros, with the functions of marketing and sales being the major concentration. Yes, I said, “sales”, because, most people still have he perception that, “free” is not as good, and not supported, and could be gone tomorrow. Linux needs to have credibility beyond the geek and development community. It needs to have direction, and that can only come from a major business entity, dedicated to the OS and all associated software. Am I talking about a Microsoft-like entity? Yes, because, that’s the only way that Linux might have a chance beyond the “1-percenters”.
Even with my disappointments, I might have decided to use and develop for Linux, if it had been a product with the major backing of a respected software house, which would also be responsible to marketing and sales. Sure, there are some of those out there, but, none as big and respected and known as Apple or Microsoft or Google or IBM or Dell or HP. Now, with Windwos 8 having come out, Linux will have to play more catchup, and though it has a presence of sorts with Android, it’s not because people wanted it; it’s because it’s packages as a device where people don’t distinguish between the device and the OS within.