Wrong. You can get Mephis Linux for $25 and the rest of the software you can download for free from Debian repositories all over the web. Today Linux is better than Windows and you don't have to worry about spyware, worms, and viruses. And best of all, its super-stable. No more "blue screen of death."
Have you ever used XP? That's a Win98 phenomena; it's simply not an issue anymore. Since Service Pack 2 (and before), I have never found Windows to be more reliable.
Oh, great. Yet another "oh-why-won't-they-switch-to-our-superior-OS" discussion. You guys just don't seem to get this. It doesn't matter how low you price Linux or where you market it in the retail channel. Even at zero dollars, it is not seeing any real adoption by desktop users. Until you can get developers to target popular applications that people actually use (not dust-bin rejects) at Linux -- and you improve Linux ease-of-use -- desktop adoption rates won't change. Where are the popular games? Popular finance software? Linux wireless support is crap. So is application setup. Blah, blah, blah ...
Correct. It's actually "purplish lavender screen of death"