[Jerrek]

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

Supermount, runs in the same way as the MS mounting system, takes away the need for explicit mounting. Installed by default in most of the more user-friendly distributions.



Mozilla/Thunderbird, also commonly used mailers on windows systems. Evolution, Outlook look-alike with some improved features. Also installed as default on most user-friendly distributions.



Gnome/KDE, desktop managers that provide a graphical interface, in much the same way as Windows Explorer provides a graphical interface on Windows desktops. Again, installed as a default

That is nice, but zoooooooooooooooooooooom, you completely missed the point. WINDOWS IS EASIER THAN LINUX. End-of-discussion.

What I take issue with is the way Microsoft conduct their business and that their use of closed standards (that's standards, not source, I take no exception to proprietary software) locks people in to their software and does reduce freedom of choice.

HOW? The only reason your freedom of choice is reduced is because YOU *want* to run THEIR product. If you get rid of THEIR product(s), you have the entire market to choose from. Their product is only ONE on the market. CHOOSE something different! It isn't hard to comprehend!

They have every right to do whatever they want with their software. No one forces you to buy it. You enter into a deal with Microsoft when you buy their software. If the deal is unacceptable, DO NOT ENTER IT. It is THEIR SOFTWARE. YOU are the person that want to use it. YOU don't own it. YOU have no right to say how another person or company should run his life or the business.

QUIT complaining and start innovating and deliver a product that is better.

If you look more closely at the history of computing, you'll soon see a different picture of why Microsoft dominate.

Innovation, good marketing, and a good sense for business. AND, they are CUSTOMER focused. USER focused. Something which Linux still needs to learn.

And yes, currently, Linux is for nerds. It is inwieldy and complicated. But that is a picture that is very rapidly changing, very very rapidly thanks to the likes of Sun and Novell.

I thought you said that you're locked into buying Microsoft products? I thought you said that Microsoft is a barrier to entry into the market? How can Linux then be changing and evolving so rapidly?