It's a silly argument. Linux failed in the consumer desktop space No it didn't...It never even competed. It was never offered as a market choice. who's fault that is isn't the point. It "failed" because it never tried. No marketing, no exposure, no nothing. Linux will succeed but it will never be on the desktop...but it will prevail in the mobile market...they just won't call it Linux. Take the victory and move along.

Can consumer support at hp do linux and windows ? Yes they can. Worked at an HP Customer Service Center on contract close to LA two years ago, doing hardware and network upgrades. Several large (read fortune 500) companies have service contracts with HP and many of them are running HP desktop with Linux and HP servers. They can certainly support Linux, and they do.

My neighborhood is rife with insecure routers or WEP encryption. The latter taking only a few minutes longer to connect to than the first. If I were an arse, I could daisy-chain them on a weekly basis and have a few left over for the next week. Wardriving without the driving....a movie a day at least... But I am not and I will not...my neighbors are good folks. But who's to say that there are not others in the neighborhood that are as decent. If anything, it might teach those without secure connections to make them so. But probably not...

says the Greeks...sheesh

I still have, and use daily a complete Phase Linear system I bought while in Germany. Sure, there are many components and it takes up a ton of room but man, when I sit stereophonic center in my listening room, I couldn't tell you where any one speaker is and the sound is so clear and bright, it does justice to the artist...it is reproduced the way it was intended. And yeah, I'm someone's dad who has better equipment than his kids...and they know it.

From what I see, people who still rent at only blockbuster are the ones that get their computer and tech advice from Best Buy/Geek Squad. There is always a market niche for the uniformed.

A grad student sharing an apartment with 5 other grad students, not sure if he's gonna have enough money for his monthly allotment of Ramen

"That's why Linux market share is so low due to so many patented goodies that are essential for modern computers."
That's just silly. Patents have little or nothing to do with Linux market share. I've run Linux as my primary systems personally and in business since 2005 and I've never run into any "patented goodies" that make my experience any less than yours. If you care to name a few of them, then I might concede the point but really..?
Linux market share is low because of OEM deals. If patents were a doubt-point for OEM's, Dell would never (meagerly) offered Linux on their product line. What's on a computer at manufacture usually stays on a computer for the majority of people...at least here in the US. Half the people that own a computer couldn't coherently tell you what an operating system is, not to mention the differences between them.

Work out why you have 90%+ desktop marketshare instead of turning your back on it to chase the remaining 10%.
Might it be because they are the only operating system offered by the world's major OEM's? And they did it by less than legitimate means...get your hands on a vendor's agreement between MS and Dell and get back with me.

The RNC will just insert tags in the html - SARAH PALIN NUDE....

When Americans are more interested in Dancing With The Stars than the way their government works, this is what you get. Network Television - Feeding American Morons since the first reality show.

The HeliOS Project installs roughly 400 computers a year for disadvantaged students in Central Texas in a year's time. 60 percent of them are still not connected to the Internet after 90 days because they cannot afford the service. And no, Time Warner, Clear and other ISP's could not care less. Let 'em eat dialup. If the school system is going to subsidize their broadband connection, then it might work...outside of that, it won't.

Yep, makes the thousands of terabytes downloaded a year via wardriving worth it.

With application names like ZynAddSubFX and Guayadeque, I'm sure they can come up with something apt.

I grudgingly agree. The ratings for Jersey Shore and Dancing with the Stars pretty much bears out your point. Any quality TV show with anything akin to a plot device usually dies within the first season. Wrestling however seems to have found a permanent home on our airwaves.