So it's NOT free..and people need to stop saying that it is...it's fee-for-service.  I have nothing against Linux, per say, but it gets on my nerves, when commercial companies, who are trying to get market share...try to use that free tag...especially in this case, when they are copyrighting something, which imho shouldn't be allowed to.  If you want to argue on the technical merits of Unbuntu against Windows 7...sure...but to compare a company that isn't making a dime..and working off venture capital, against one of the most successful companies is a bit of a joke.  Google operated under the radar like everybody’s friend as well...but notice that Apple recent did a WTF, and boot Eric Schmidt off the board...

Dell along with others offers OS options worldwide...and we will see in 5-6 years how the experiment in Brazil and Germany works out.  From an engineering mgmt perspective...lifecycle cost are normal the greatest cost for a given system...and so time will tell.

What matters is user freedoms. I don't care how much money Canonical make as long as me or anyone else has a right to modify, redistribute, and view source code of the programs/OS I use. If Microsoft did this, and allowed others to patch the flaws in its OS, I would have no problem with them making billions of dollars.

Microsoft aren't making the billions through being the best choice - they are making them because they are seen as the only choice. For example, I resent my school forcing me to have Windows at home to run certain programs and view certain files.

While you may resent it, every institution must have standards and Office software is by far the best at what it does. Open Office is good, however it just does not really compare with the overall feature set in Office. Thus, the best choice for business and education firms is to use Office, then to ensure full compatibility and reduce any potential headache they create standards, i.e. you must use Office, which means you must use MS.

Vista was a flub...but like Intel rebounded with Core architecture, I think M$ is poised to do so with 7...