It happens all the time. If you expect someone to sell your product, and your product has any amount of technological complexity above that of say a toaster, then you want that person to have some modicum of knowledge about the product. The retailer is not going to put any effort into training their employees so who is in the best position to make this happen? The manufacturer of course. Take your basic premise and replace MS and Best Buy with a manufacturer and retailer from any other industry and no one would think twice about it. I'm no MS fanboi and fully support Linux and all it stands for but really the bias is, as another poster stated, irrational.

You obviously have never used Ubuntu. If you had you would know that Ubuntu includes OpenOffice as part of its standard install and features both the Synaptic Package Manager and the Add/Remove option for software, the latter having pretty pictures for those who need them. You're right that it's a check in the pro column for Ubuntu but it definitely hasn't allowed Linux to "beat" Microsoft.

Richard Hatch hated it too until they gave him a recurring role on the show. I wonder what Benedicts stance would have been if they had approached him for a guest role? I was a big fan of the re-imagined series so after the series was over, I thought I would revisit the original just for a lark. Maybe it was too soon and unfair to compare the two but jeez the original BSG was a real stinker. I made it through two episodes before I turned the whole thing off and returned the discs. I guess it's true that "you can't go home again"

The man invented multi-tracking. For that alone every musician in the world should utter a small prayer to Les Paul every time they step into a studio. He was a true visionary and really pushed the boundaries of the music of his time.

Sure he did. See here