Sorry, but Linux is expensive to maintain and quirky to set up on the various PC laptops out there. Maybe on Mac machines things are more streamlined for linux.
That said, I had to get linux on my machine and I had to end up paying $100 worth of tech to finaly make it work with the sound driiver and all that I could not find.
I can get College student priced Windows and Word for 5 bucks each.
Sorry, but Linux is expensive to maintain and quirky to set up on the various PC laptops out there. Sorry, but you obviously haven't tried Knoppix or Mandrake lately.
Things do change over time, and the times they are a-changing' for Microsoft and Linux.
.NET is great and all, but anything you write in it is essentially just rented from Microsoft.
Not so with open source. That is its big selling point, and it is going to become more and more important over time.