[PokeyJoe]

This is because private ownership stimulates innovation. Undertaking a new enterprise is risky, and the only compensation for an increased risk is higher reward. Remove that possibility --- and there is no reason to take risk; no reason to develope new products.

from this qoute . . .

to the point . . .

Linux is already available in 64bit versions (not XP), that Linux already has clustering capability (not XP), that Linux has a choice of over 4 desktops (not XP), that Linux can read HPFS, NTFS, FAT, UFS, DFS, and has a working version of a filesystem driven database-style transactional updates (not XP), and I could go on . . .

Innovation requires the FREEDOM to innovate.

[general_re]

Huh?

Linux is already available in 64bit versions (not XP)

What's this?

Linux already has clustering capability (not XP)

Clustering has been available since NT 4.

that Linux has a choice of over 4 desktops (not XP)

Huh? I can think of a half-dozen drop in replacements for Windows Explorer off the top of my head. Here's one. Here's another one.

that Linux can read HPFS, NTFS, FAT, UFS, DFS

Just don't think you can write to an NTFS partition under Linux. Anyway, you can get drop-ins to read (and write) all of those under Windows, plus ext2, ext3, and a lot more.

and has a working version of a filesystem driven database-style transactional updates (not XP)

Not ready for prime-time. So does the next version of NTFS. If you want production-ready, BeOS had one five years ago.

Nothing wrong with preferring Linux over Windows, but it's usually wise to be aware of the actual facts first...