Same thing applies to window managers and DEs (Desktop Environments.) I'm a Slackware with Window Maker person myself, but there are a great many options in terms of window managers. DEs, not so much.

This reminds me of a 31 Flavors ice cream flavor called Lemon Meringue that I really, really (I mean REALLY) liked. For whatever reason, they stopped making it for a long time and when they brought it back, it just didn't taste the same. Did my tastes change over the years? Did the ice cream chef screw up the recipe? Didn't matter, it no longer did the trick. But then I found Hot Cocoa with the little marshmellows and the world was again ice cream heaven. The point of all this? There is no point, go eat some ice cream.

Every time a user chooses what distro to use, they vote.

Don't like the way a distribution does things? Use a different one.

There is a wireless router in my neighborhood named "Snookums" which makes me afraid to know what they named their cat.

It's the Microsoft model: The release is the test.

Here is the Ars article from time past on the subject of just why Google decided on the ASL instead of the GPL:

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/11/why-google-chose-the-apache-software-license-over-gplv2.ars

They are called modules for a reason: You can add or remove at will, including whether or not you bother to build them at all. To say modules are "built into the kernel" is incorrect; module code is included with the kernel source code, but the modules themselves are only built and used if you choose.

As concerns the "insanity" of configuring a kernel, here again you have a choice: Use Ubuntu. But if you want a fast, lean, mean machine you really do want to craft your kernel to fit your specific needs.

Well, I thought that was pretty damn funny: The guy who marked you informative must be having a very sarcastic day.

Kirk: How is the messenger, Bones?

McCoy: He's dead, Jim.

Kirk: Well, I suppose our mission here is accomplished.

McCoy: Yes, I suppose you're right.

"Customers always find an approach which pays us less money."

That's okay Steve, Microsoft always finds a way to make clunky, insecure software: There is balance in the Microsoft universe.

...or make your Linux look like a Mac:

http://maketecheasier.com/turn-your-ubuntu-intrepid-into-mac-osx-leopard/2009/01/08

Actually, no. Not mentioning a specific distribution gives the vendor the option of providing what the customer needs after a quicky interview: Mr. Science Researcher may need something like Slackware or Gentoo but Ms. Small Business may need Redhat while Mrs. Quilt-at-Home would be served best by Ubuntu that dual boots into Win7 for her game-playing kid. Flexibility is a good thing all around.

...the little goofy looking gray guys were approaching my rear portal with what may have been a probability probe. Out of desperation to appear non-plussed I casually asked, "Is that a gravity probe?"

Dead silence, but the little goofy looking gray guys (LGLGG, or Luglugs) were twitching and the approach to my posterior was delayed. Occasionally one would tweet out a tune followed by much more twitching. It occurred to me: They were laughing.

At first I suspected they might be laughing at the my soon-to-be-even-more-desperate situation but then, on a hunch, I blurted out, "A gravity detector?"

Increased twitching and tweeting from the Luglugs suggested I had found a possible escape from a most certain -- and certainly uncomfortable -- probing. A few Luglugs were obviously having problems balancing, leaning into tables whilst twitching uncontrollably. I took the shot.

"An anti-gravity generator!" Withing seconds, all the Luglugs were splayed out on the floor, a twitching and tweeting mass of Luglug hysteria.

Later upon returning me home (un-probed,) the obviously exhausted Luglugs slammed the door in my face when I offered the phrase, "I love Gravity!"

The moral of my story: When one is about to get one's ass reamed by a higher intelligence, gravity as a concept may have some value. Otherwise, not so much.

X works really good for what it's designed for and I'd hate to have to live without it. That said, what I also would like is a custom version for gaming which turns down or off features not needed for gaming. Wouldn't it be nice if users could build a custom X as easy as custom kernels?

Yup. Texas especially so.

I submit that both are broken and for the same reason: They want to have their cakes and eat them too.

Business relies heavily on societal infrastructure for end profits, but thinks that contributing to the support and development of the infrastructure is a horrible injustice inflicted upon them: You'll never, ever find a business which factors in the infrastructure items they depend upon because they are assumed to be there to be used, much like mana from heaven. Someone else is expected to put all the various infrastructure elements in place and maintain them so business can reap profits, but what happens when business controls most of the wealth of the society? Who then plans, builds and maintains the infrastructure items necessary for business to function? No one.

America's wealth owners would re-read the children's classic "The Little Red Hen" and throw Ayn Rand in the trash if they're really interested in seeing the U.S. do well in the future.