[JamesP81]

The only impediments to widespread adoption of Linux at this point are 1) familiarity with Windows and 2) the fact that most computers still ship with Windows by default. As soon as Dell and others start offering Linux pre-installed on a large scale, that should change.

Bzzt. Wrong. The reason Linux isn't being adopted is because the software people want and need to use doesn't run on it. I've used OpenOffice. It's supposedly compatible with MS Office. This is being charitable. As long as we're talking simple documents, it does well, but I've seen it fall flat on its ass doing the conversions more than once. Not to mention that none of the entertainment titles I indulge in from time to time are written for Linux. And I'm certainly not going to re-buy them even if they were written for Linux.

[RussP]

The reason OpenOffice isn’t fully compatible with MS Office is that that latter is a kludge, and MS has deliberately kept it so precisely to make it difficult for competitors to achieve compatibility. Is that a good reason to stick with MS Office forever when a superior alternative based on superior standards is available for free? Only if we’re suckers (count on the govt to stick with MS Office and pay for it with out tax dollars).

As for “entertainment titles,” I assume you are referring to games. I’ll grant you that MS has the edge there, but only due to platform dependence. I personally don’t play computer games. I have far more interesting things to do then to bore myself to tears with child’s games. If I ever decide to start playing computer games, I’ll get a toy operating system (Windows).

[joseph20]

"The reason Linux isn't being adopted is because the software people want and need to use doesn't run on it. I've used OpenOffice. It's supposedly compatible with MS Office. This is being charitable. As long as we're talking simple documents, it does well, but I've seen it fall flat on its ass doing the conversions more than once."

Microsoft Office 2007 already supports Open Document Format (ODF), which is the native document format of Open Office.