If you think you need to switch to a different distribution to get a different desktop environment on log in, you my friend are the "dumbass". I've been using linux likely since shortly after you were born and have seen distributions come and go - as far as Linux desktops go it does the job. Eventually you grow up and realise the desktop environment is pretty irrelevant, so long as it has basic window management, a file manager and the ability to fire up an xterm. Anything else is a bonus.

Furthermore, whilst it may not be to everyone's taste, ubuntu is quite usable out of the box. It has a terminal, it has a browser and installing a few network admin tools is not rocket science.

Other than of course default to HTML web based rendering and let Google put out an app if appropriate (ala Apple).

Exactly. People seem to forget that google is, first and foremost an ad company. If you don't want ads, google is not the company for you to rally behind.

No, it means MS is a competitor who is violating the youtube TOS in a product that competes with Android.

Others are monetizing it. Whlst technically they are breaking the TOS they aren't big enough to warranty going after. MS is.

Certainly MS saw this coming

Have only had a brief play with unity and don't get why so much hate? Yes it is dumbed down significantly. I still have a shell, it worked out of the box, and i haven't had to touch a configuration file yet? Things don't have to be hard to use to be powerful. Besides, if you don't like it, switch to another desktop environment?

Pretty much same here. For all the IE hate we have, its easy to forget what the alternatives were back in the day. Another reason IE was so popular was the IEAK which made it easy for ISPs to pre-configure dial up settings for their users and bundle a browser all pre-configured out of the box. This was FREE, I'm pretty sure back in the Netscape days, that sort of thing required a license.

No, IE dominated because of a few reasons - dialup - it was "good enough" (from an end user perspective) and a browser was several hours to download over dialup. It was needed for Windows update to work. And, like it or not, many corporate web apps were built with it. Also, it was configurable via group policy, so enterprises like it as it enables them to ensure end user browsers are configured in a sane state (security zones, proxy settings, etc.).

Chrome != Chromium

Oh, and you can tunnel through putty...

Never said putty was a replacement. Merely that to maintain a business environment I can't do it without a Windows license.

The network, compared to most of the other alternatives is a lot more available. And by that i mean both in terms of SLAs and actually having connectivity options in remote areas. :)

(I'm on Telstra at the moment... Don't ask)

Nothing wrong with telstra's network, othert than cost.

And service. But the network itself is fine :)