[ATLDiver]

Well because I like challenges and making something work that isn’t always supported. My point is that not everyone is going to have current, main-stream peripherals after all we’re not talking Apple owners here. Many people still have that old sound card or video card that likely won’t have a Linux driver for it. One of the problems that MS had with Vista is that along with the core OS code, they built in a LOT of old drivers. Linux doesn’t have near the driver support that say Win 7 does built-in and vendor drivers for *nix is hit or miss.

Your question as to why I installed it without running a compatibility test is moot. The average user most certainly won’t do that either, in my case I knew I had a challenge on my hands, the average user will expect it to just work. I’m glad you like the UI of Ubuntu but the average user does not and will not but again you and I are not the average user.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

A compatibility test? You mean booting from the CD into the OS to see if it works? Anyone would do that. It takes a couple of minutes and the instructions tell you to do it. Unless you mean doing it a few years ago before such things were around on every distro. I like a challenge too, but wasting my time is another story. Nobody likes that. Remember, a year is like a decade in Linux development. If you don't stay on top of it, criticisms don't stay valid, because they've often been attended to.

Luckily, I've never had one of those old Realtek wireless cards that have Linux trouble. I did have a Lexmark printer once, but it was such a frustrating piece of garbage that I threw it away before trying to use it with Linux. I haven't looked into whether progress has been made on them.

I’m glad you like the UI of Ubuntu but the average user does not and will not but again you and I are not the average user.

I'm glad we have you here to speak on behalf of all of those 'average users'. I wonder which one they will like least. Gnome? KDE? Xfce? You're right about one thing: you're not one of them. Average users would have followed the instructions.