You know, it took only a few years for the free-form internet to develope it widespread ability and it appears that MS, Software Greedmongers and the government will kill its functionality in approximately the same amount of time. Will we even surf in any form of free manner in four years time or will only the really computer junkies be able to do so while the rest of the public is driven away by costs, subsciptions and problems built-in?
Bill Gates made a speech several years ago, in 2000, I think, on that very subject. He said that Windows was far too difficult to use for the average person and that the Internet was following the same path. Windows XP was a step in the right direction, but Microsoft still has its "feature junkies" at the helm as Program Managers.
I do not support Linux for my own use, but I very much welcome it and any other program that can give MS a run for its money. MS needs competition to show that people want software that works and is easy to use all of its feastures. I don't want to have to get a PhD in order to use a shrink wrap product. I have a 2.0Ghz machine with 512MB RAM. It runs like a pig compared to my "old" Pentium Pro-200 Mhz running older software. This machine is ten times as fast in many respects, and, yet, it runs today's bloated, "feature junky" software half as fast.