The irony is that I didn't miss your point... Your point was wrong...

You said they are the same, icons and programs and a desktop. My point is that they AREN'T the same, if they were, Linux wouldn't be at 1.5% and Windows at 94% marketshare.

The fact that Linux has essentially no share of the market indicates that they are in fact not the same, and that your point was incorrect.

Interestingly enough, I have the reverse problem... Mine starts out at 100meg or so and slowly ramps up in speed...

That being said, very little outside the Texas area gets above 500meg no matter how big the file and some stuff within 50 miles is still not that fast. Downloading Steam games for example, the server is within 50 miles of me, but it is rare to get more than 300 meg from them. I've seen bursts higher, but 35 megabytes per second is about as good as it gets.

I've seen nearly 100 megabytes per second, once, from Amazon's servers, but it seems that either the servers aren't designed to handle the speed or I don't have enough open connections, or perhaps the backbone is busy.

Or perhaps the local connection AT&T is providing to the final mile isn't enough. That seems odd, since this has only been online for about two weeks, I doubt I'm sharing it with very many people yet.

Likewise, I've tested those with pingtest and the connection is very good just about everywhere. The bandwidth for large files has just been disappointing. I honestly feel that I could downgrade to 300 megabit and wouldn't notice any difference.

Wow, that is really out there... I'm not even sure what to say to all that, other than I think you're way, way out on the fringe.

What you describe is not normal, not common, and not a concern of the vast majority of people. It verges on the tinfoil hat arena...

That is not a technology problem, that is a socity problem. If we don't fix that, nothing we do with technology will matter.

We're doomed as a race if we don't figure out how to stop fighting each other.

But that is already the situation, it has been for awhile, and nothing I do is going to change it.

I don't have faith in them either, but I think you're kidding yourself if you think a VPN is going to help you. You're wired into the government approved Internet, using devices you don't really control, on connections that you don't either, paid for with electronic money that you don't control.

Bin Laden survived for a long time only because he was TOTALLY off the grid, and had a lot of people around him protecting and covering for him. You, living in the US? No chance.

Your idea of "security" is an illusion in my opinion, you aren't nearly as "hidden" as you think you are.

I hear you. I hear you.

I honestly think that if Tim Cook can get over Steve Job's desire to only play in the niche market, Apple could have a winner on its hands.

While they won't remove Windows from the market, if they can get their market share to 20% or so, then companies would start having to come out with Mac versions more often, it become self sustaining at that point.

The fact that the Mac Mini is so "fixed" in terms of what you can do with it makes it nothing but a toy. The iMac as well, it is just a laptop that you can't move around.

The only Mac towers are insanely expensive, beyond reason.

For $600 I can get a very nice Core i5 Windows 10 box that has 8GB of RAM, but can be expanded to 32GB if needed. I can put my own SSD in, my own video card in, my own upgraded power supply, etc.

Apple isn't even close, which is why their market share is in the sub 5% range.

Linux 1.5% desktop marketshare vs. Windows 94% desktop marketshare would seem to dispute your arrangement.

Linux desktop marketshare hasn't budged in over a decade. If it were going to take off, it would have by now. It is actually worse than it used to be, now that Windows is actually really good and now mostly free.

You are thinking like a technical person, not a lay person. To the lay person they all look different, so they must be different. And there are indeed differences, some more than others.

Windows 10 is Windows 10 is Windows 10. A Windows program that says it works with Windows 10, does.

Linux doesn't have that. Heck, it doesn't even have a decent library of programs that your average person knows about.

Look, I get it, lots of tech people love it and hate Windows, but the fact is, your average consumer doesn't share that feeling.

Yes you can, sort of, most of the time, kinda, with various amounts of tinkering required...

All of which brings up the point... "why?"

Linux's primary reason to be used can't be "because it isn't Windows". You don't switch TO something because of that, you switch away from something.

OS X on the Mac has FAR more chance of attracting interest from Joe Consumer than Linux does.

Even TurboTax doesn't run on Wine properly without a lot of tinkering. That sort of thing is a deal killer. "Kinda sorta maybe works some of the time" is not an acceptable answer.

Just run Windows, then it does work.

That is true, but it will be amazingly hard to dislodge Windows at this point.

Linux had its chance 15 years ago, its day has past for the desktop market. It does make an amazing server OS however and it will continue doing so for a very long time.

The real threat, if Tim Cook can move on from Steve Job's legacy, is Apple.

Apple has over $200 billion in cash, a good desktop OS, and a well known brand. If Apple could get off their horse long enough to see that, they could give Windows a real run for its money. Price is the real problem, Macs are expensive, really expensive, stupid expensive.

Offer a Mac for a reasonable price or license the OS or something, and Windows would have a real challenger.

I'm sure others see that too... but what I'd suggest is that you not pirate media and then the media cartels won't care about you. :)

In fact, if you're not a pirate, then the unique IP for every device can come to your defense, since I'm sure some people are unfairly targeted now thanks to NAT and the like.

I'm 40 years old, while I have a vague sense of unease with it, the 20 year olds don't seem to care much. My parents and their generation largely don't seem to understand or have given up and accept they won't be around long enough to care.

Those are broad brushes of course. :) There will always be exceptions. I'm sure you can live a more disconnected life, there are other options... but many people want to be wired up 24/7...

Perhaps, but the data's value degrades over time and the real value to Google is that it allows them to actively direct marketing and ads to me.

If I stop using their services, they largely lose that ability. They can still sell the older data, but at some point no one cares anymore.

They might, but I expect that to be a long time from now. In any case, it isn't any different than what Yahoo Mail or Microsoft Outlook mail does.

Snowden didn't reveal anything I didn't already know. I've studied history, I was never under any illusion that my own government was spying on me and everyone else. That is what they do, what all governments have done throughout human history. Anyone who believed otherwise either knows nothing of history or was living in fantasy.

Thankfully for me, I'm boring and uninteresting and thus the NSA doesn't care about me. I'm much more concerned over the militarization of the police, civil forfeiture, and the loss of civil rights than I am the NSA.

An obvious example of the NSA was 9/11, the government knew within hours who did it, who they were connected to, and who paid for it. Why? Because they had databases with all the historical records. Credit card payments, bank transfers, phone calls. Once they had a target to look at, it took only a few hours to pull all the credits and I imagine connecting the dots was easy. The challenge they have is they often don't know who to look for until after the fact, and despite all their computer power and resources, they can't look at everyone.

It would just be nice if we used the NSA more against other nations such as China. Perhaps we do and we don't hear about it, but I'd be happy if they would be a bit more aggressive there.

But back to Snowden, sadly he turned his life upside down for nothing. No one cares, nothing changed, the news cycle forgot about him, and plenty of people still have no idea who he is, what he did, or why.

The only real "compatability" cars require is to drive on roads and consume gas. In some cases, even the gas part isn't required.

But while there are lots of car choices, there is also a wide range of needs in the car market. Small ones, big ones, trucks, minivans, etc.

It is also clear and obvious to a lay person what the differences are. A minivan is clearly for moving families, a Mustang is clearly for 1 or 2 people out to have a nice drive, a pickup truck is for someone who has stuff to carry/tow, etc.

Computers are more complex than this, and frankly can't be made as simple as cars. For example, all cars have a gas pedal, a brake pedal, a steering wheel, etc. They really aren't that complex.

Houses also actually aren't that complex... You have a kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, family rooms, maybe a playroom, etc. When it comes right down to it, we all more or less live in the same boxes. The only variations are pretty simple, is it a 3 or 4 bedroom house, do you have 1 or 2 living areas, etc.

A toilet is a toilet is a toilet, with only minor differences.

Computers aren't that simple and you can't just run a Windows program on Linux.

I highly doubt very many people who have an Android phone know about the kernel underneath.

Add to that they have no real control over it either. You buy a Samsung Galaxy S6 phone, you get what you're given and most people are happy enough with that.

If you were to say, "hey, you know that phone you like so much, you can install that OS on your desktop computer!", their likely reply would be, "what? why the heck would I want to do that?!?"

And they'd be right.

Yep, and there really isn't a "generic Linux" for people, there are just too many versions and flavors. It is confusing, and frankly people don't like that much choice. It requires they understand the computer more than they want to.

This is why when you go to buy a car, few cars offer more than trim levels and a handful of options. You can get that Ford Explorer in XLT, Limited, or Sport, take your pick. A Honda Odyssey comes in LX, EX, EX-L, Touring, and Touring Elite, pick one. That is 5 choices, probably 1 too many, but there it is...

On average, people want a "cheap, middle, deluxe" option... "Small, medium, large... maybe extra large"... Linux is WAY too fractured for Joe Consumer.

Of course they do, I don't doubt that at all... but no one is pushing them because there isn't any money to be made... not real money anyway... Red Hat tried years ago and didn't get much traction, so they switched to supporting the business/server market and have done ok there.

Dell has tried a few times selling machines with Linux installed, and their return rates were terrible. People want to be able to install "anything", and Windows lets you install (almost) anything. You'd be really hard pressed to find a program that general consumers might use that doesn't have a Windows version.

Interesting point you make... When I move a large file, give it some time, and the speed tends to go up over time... It often takes 15 to 20 seconds before full speed is attained...

Honestly, I'm considering dropping it back to 300 meg, it saves $30 a month and I suspect I won't notice a difference...

People on Windows XP aren't likely to upgrade at this point without replacing the computer, most of those machines are too old now.

People on OS X can afford to buy Windows, Macs sure cost enough.

The few people on Linux aren't going to use Windows anyway, unless they have to for work or games.

Windows is as free as it gets, depending on what happens in the next 12 months, it is possible MS will just make Windows free outright to everyone.