I suspect that these early trauma are what lead me to a degree in anthropology. It didn't really help since none of the choices offered were ethnicities in the anthropological sense at all! Anthropologically, two are "races" in that inappropriately broad, sweeping sense that "race" has come to be used, two are geographic affiliation choices, and one is a catch-all. None are "ethnic" as an anthropologist would see it, at least when I was completing my course work.

When I was in high school, back before there WERE cell phones or digital cameras, we were asked to identify our "ethnicity," whereever the "ethnicity" was a quarter or more of our ancestry - as part of the initial efforts at "affirmative action" I think. Anyway the choices were "White, Black, Native American, Iberian, and Other." Since my mother was half Portugese, I put down Iberian. I was called in by an examiner and asked to explain, and I cited my twenty-five percent Portugese descent. This lead to a confusing interchange where the fellow attempted to convince me that Portugal was not "Iberian" - since the Portugese didn't speak Spanish - while I pointed that you can't get any farther west on the Iberian penninsula without getting wet. Since then whenever asked about ethnicity, I check "Other" and write in "Lusitanian." It generates an occasional baffled look, but at least I'm not subjected to irrational geography lessons.

Wouldn't that actually be a "small continent" near New Zealand?

Well, look at the bright side. It is not bad news for Microsoft. ;-)

I don't regard either Windows or Linux as "less useable." Linux is "infinitely" less expensive though, and for me that is an important point. I'ld rather learn more than spend more.

Since I don't use firewire on anything, I can't speak to the issue there. However, with USB, "it just works" pretty much covers the ground. This also is true of cd and dvd drives I've installed. Windows always whines - as you say - about the drivers. Once that's done, both OSs do the job.