Of course there are people using Linux. The question is what are they using Linux for?

As an end content consumer OS, it's usefulness is still limited relative to Windows or OSX, but it's things like Steam support that can slowly change this.

As for gaming, the Steam content delivery service doesn't = instant availability of all your Windows games on Linux. It's still up to software publishers to add Linux support in addition to ATI and Nvidia to adding regular GPU driver updates.

I wonder how well they are going to support 64-bit linux. The devs of most of the closed source games I've tried can't be bothered to make 64 bit binaries.

you can already run steam via wine, and HL2 and L4D will work.

This is obviously better. But, I doubt any third party developer that publishes via steam will make it work on linux. Granted it's a good direction, but not that big a deal unless something else happens.

I almost always use Kubuntu to browse the web and for every serious task. In the past I used Windows for games and to scan images, as my old parallel scanner had only Windows drivers, but now I use it only for games as my current USB scanner has drivers and utilities far better on Linux than on Windows.

Edit: In the past I used SuSE, Mandrake (yuck), Debian, Knoppix and Mepis (as recovery disc, also for Windows), I started using Kubuntu since 6.06, but IMVHO its overall HW and SW support really started to improve at an impressive rate since 7.04 - 7.10, 8.04 64bit required some manual tinkering and 9.04, like one of the 7.x was for 32bit, was the first 64bit that automagically installed on my HW without need for manual adjustments to work properly also on my notebook, I just chose manually extra or replacement SW that I preferred to the ones in the standard installation.

The only HW that still requires the manual installation of the firmware is the scanner, but it requires manual operations of the same complexity on Windows too (on Windows, running a setup, on Linux copying a file), and as I wrote, after that the end result is far better on Linux.

And to improve Linux useer-friendliness, my printer works as soon as it's plugged on Linux, while it requires to install drivers on Windows.

Before 9.04 some printer maintenance utilities required root privileges, now not anymore.

It's a bit like Steam OSX support although there are still more retail games that work with that OS. 

In the short term, it means that Valve is doing full support of Linux with their own games which is an excellent start. Still not enough to get people to suddenly start using Linux, but for those who already do, it does mean being able to play their Valve games without re-booting, which is something I suppose. 

When Ubisoft, EA and Activision do full Linux support for their games (which would set the standard for other publishers), then Linux will become a legitimate commercial platform for PC games. 

I don't need to use another OS to browse the web or scan images.

As for "serious" tasks, virtually all of my productivity is done with Autodesk and Adobe software. Only when both publishers support dual licensing for their productivity apps, would I consider "switching" to Linux. As it is, I'm already a dual platform/OS user between Win7 and OSX 10.6. 

If Civilization V is playable on Linux through Steam, I'm saying goodbye to Microsoft and Windows for good.

I can't get Ubuntu out of my head after having experienced it.

Yes, I know some tasks still require Windows, but for most non specialized users and for programmers not working for them, Linux is already quite complete, with only Windows games still absent or having limited support.

On my old system, I dual-booted SuSE and XP. 

Currently I run Windows 7 with an Ubuntu VM via Virtual Box.

yes, the free software is good.

but linux is a pain in the ass to install for drivers (although its getting better) and sometimes never end up getting things working 100% especially for  laptops.

In Ubuntu 9.10 as I had to change the ALSA Driver, find mp3, VGA, DVD, etc codecs. The Monitor Brightness function, only works in Ubuntu 8.04. And various other problems that occur depending on pc's But I dont want that.
Granted for new users, Linux Mint has all of this.
Also for budget laptops like netbooks flash eats up a lot more CPU on netbooks. And Flash doesn't work smooth on my 2GHZ atom, but it does on windows

I use it for the free software, and not having to buy virus scan, and I eventually got all of the things working besides the monitor brightness, but someone like my mom, I gave her linux, and it was hella confusing for her,  and she has to worry about little things like her nikon camera software etc. So I put windows back.

It's not easy for someone to transition, from windows to linux. And for a lot of people its not worth the time.

Keep in mind, I'm using linux now. So I love it. It's just not for everyone. And you always when you buy things you have to worry about will this product work (Camera Software, VideoSoftware) Will this scanner be a pain in the ass to setup, Or not work (As not all do)