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Other Linux users do seem to be on a jihad against anything Microsoft.

My own views on MS have evolved over the years. To its credit, MS has gotten where it is by a combination of activities, the foremost of which is MEETING CONSUMER NEEDS, but I also compliment them on knowing how to market to those needs. Now, I view them as any hegemonistic, bloated, noncompetitive entity who uses its money and power to stifle competition rather than engage the fray in competing. Another way to say it is that little guys all believe in raw capitalism till they reap the results of capitalism. Then they become protectionists. Part of this is the result of having a virtual monopoly in the marketplace. Being the only dog in the show always leads to sloppy product, unresponsiveness to customers, seeking to "squeeze" your customer base..., in short, abrogating the very things that got you at the top of the heap in the first place.

At the root(!) of the matter, a vigorous alternative to Windows is a GOOD thing for us the consumers, and for MS.

This situation is, imo, confused by the general muddy howls you get in any internet setting by zealots. Then you set this against the absolutely ruthless market behavior of MS in stealing software and attempting to intimidate by sending Ballmer to open source conferences with FUD threats of "competitorts" on the flakiest of patent claims. So, you already have some pissed off consumers. Then you get otherwise reasonably intelligent persons who magically morph into double digit iq cretins on this issue, bawling out that Linux is somehow "communist" because of the GPL or because Red China uses it. Compound this with insane jeremiads which claims that Linux is infected with the Planned Parenthood/Democratic Party/Nambla crowd because some of them use it on their servers just like [cough] Free Republic does. All we are missing is Dick Durbin claiming that Pol Pot used a proto-Linux to keep his government records, or that Hitler would have loved linux to keep prisoner roles.

That kind of talk deserves nothing but contempt. Internet being what it is, it gets what it deserves. Leads to lively talk that can resemble a "jihad," I suppose.

...a vigorous alternative to Windows is a GOOD thing for us the consumers, and for MS.

This has always been my position. I get very happy at every Linux improvement and release because it means more competition (and a better OS, of course). My ideal world would consist of a very heterogenous environment, with Windows, Linux, and Apple all getting a decent share. It helps competition, which in turn improves products of all three platforms.

A world that only has MS as the dominant player is not very safe--either from a virus POV, or a customer service POV. Since MS is currently very dominating on the desktop, I may come across as overly jubliant when something happens to them, but I am honestly only coming at it from the above viewpoint.

a vigorous alternative to Windows is a GOOD thing for us the consumers, and for MS.

One only need to look at firefox to see this. MS had all but stopped doing anything significant to ie until FF started to take some serious bites out of its market share. Now ie Is adding some of the features from FF (tabs, popup blocking) and I am sure MS is trying to come up with some of its own new things to differentiate their offering. Competition has made ie a better browser!