But the bottom line is that which is easier depends on which you know better

Actually, I've been using Windows twice as long as Linux, and knowing the interface makes Linux superior, since Microsoft changes everything around with every new version. If you'd cut your teeth on Windows 98 you'd be lost in Windows 7, but if you'd never used anything but 2002 Mandrake you would still be comfortable with kubuntu.

I never did like Gnome. ...and which is better depends on what you're doing with it.

Well, that is true. If you're an image professional you'll need Windows or Apple because there's no professional equivalent to Photoshop for Linux or BSD. But unless you absolutely need that $700 image editor, the price is a waste. And gamers still need Windows.

Maybe I have an advantage having worked with many different systems

Same here, started on a TS1000 that I learned assembly on, then a TRS-80, Apple IIe, DOS, JCL (I have no idea what hardware it was running on), then Windows, then Linux. From about 1995 unto; 2005 I did a lot of mostly database programming in NOMAD on the mainframe and dBase, Clipper, and FoxPro, with some javascript for my personal web pages around the turn of the century.

And over 5 years I had 2 failed desktop drives, one failed server drive (in a RAID array), 1 failed desktop power supply, and 1 failed server power supply. No OS or MS Office problems. Fully automated updates. After the install, only ever went to a desktop for the hardware failures I listed. I wouldn't want to try this with Linux.

No OS problems? No hangs or bluescreens with W95 or W98? That's unusual. As to hardware failures, I never had problems swapping hardware in either OS (except XP thought it was pirated after a few hardware changes and I had to call MS to fix the problem).

I discovered around 2004 that Linux was far more hardware-fault tolerant than XP. I had a dual-boot system with XP and Mandriva, and the Windows side got really flaky. Turned out the power supply had gotten flaky, Mandriva chugged along happily until it failed completely when the Windows side wouldn't even boot. Both were fine after I replaced the power supply.

BTW before you say the desktop is easier to use in Linux you may want to say which Linux and which GUI (plus add-ons) you're talking about.

Like I said, I never did like Gnome. Been happy with KDE (except 4, when I tried Gnome). That's the desktop I'd suggest to a Windows user.

A really good OS wouldn't even have a Control Panel.

Well, I don't agree with that but I will agree that text config files are really handy. Too bad neither Linux nor Windows use them any more, I miss them.

Why is it when I post with Chrome it takes out all my line feeds, guess I should use IE.

I wouldn't blame Chrome, I'd blame slashdot. I'm not having that problem with FireFox here but I'm having other problems with it.

Do you have it set to "plain old text?" If you have it set to HTML it will remove your line feeds, you'll need <br> and <p> unless it's plain old text.

You never did explain why if Windows 7 and 8 are less bloated and easier to use than Ubuntu and Mint my ten year old kubuntu tower has half the memory and half the processor speed as my Windows 7 notebook yet runs rings around it.

Informative, where are the mods? Thank you for the info.

Windows 7 and 8 are less bloated and easier to use than Ubuntu and Mint.

Then tell me why my ten year old kubuntu tower has half the memory and half the processor speed as my Windows 7 notebook yet runs rings around it?

As to "easier to use", are you on crack? Windows is decidedly user-hostile and takes fifteen clicks to do anything that takes three in KDE.

Windows 7 isn't that bad an OS or I would have installed Linux, but KDE runs circles around it in every way.

I especially hate Windows on patch Tuesday, it's completely unusable for fifteen to twenty minutes. With Linux it's one click and you go on working.

The fact that you don't know this is because rather than actually ever using Linux, you listen to the bullshit from the shills. Please educate yourself.

linux has security benefits in filesystem permissions that are actually used, but its sometimes at the expense of ease of use that windows has

LOL, +1 funny. Nice shill there, crutchy, to bad it's just not true. I have a W7 notebook and a kubuntu tower; the tower is less than half as powerful as the notebook but is a lot faster. Windows useable? That's a joke! What takes one or two clicks in kubuntu takes a dozen in W7. Lets see, where do I shut off the annoying "tap to click" feature in Windows? Nope, not under "mouse" in "control panel", it's buried fifteen clicks down in a hidden icon on the toolbar. That's useable? Kubuntu's control is in its "control panel" right where you would expect it, three clicks and done. But Windows is more useable?

You complain that Linux doesn't have text config files, where are Windows config file? Yep, it has that user-hostile registry. MS got rid of text config files over a decade ago, your registry gets corrupted you reinstall the OS. That's useable?

Yes, I've used regedit. I see little to nothing readable in it.

I got a USB bluetooth dongle, and thought it woudn't work in the tower, since there was no installation software like for Windows. But guess what? No software installation needed in Linux, just plug it in and it works. Yet you think Windows is more useable?

Or lets talk about patches. In Linux, the notification comes in, one click and it's done, finishing in the background, no stupid popups telling you that it's downloading, no stupid popups telling you it's installing, then no popups nagging you to reboot, no five minute shutdow with "do not turn off your computer" followed by five more minutes of the same warning when it restarts, no several more popups after it gets back to the desktop. That's useable? WTF, dude?

I never shut the laptop off and only boot it for patch Tuesday. OTOH I shut the tower down when I don't think I'll be using it for a day or two, because when I restart it I just press the button and get a cup of coffee, when I get back from the kitchen it's as if I'd never shut it down, it having entered the password for me and reopened what was open when I shut it down. Windows lacks these useability features, yet you think Windows is more useable?

When I upgrade Windows (since XP that means a new computer for me) I wind up with a completely different interface to waste time learning. Always prettier but seldom with more features. With the exception of KDE4, a Linux upgrade has no learning curve, it's just more responsive and has added features. But a steep learning curve is more useable???

Please tell me what about Windows is more useable than Linux? Windows is a pain in the ass. And I say this as someone who's been using Linux for ten years and Windows for twenty.

OK, this is a different tech (I should submit this) but U of I is working on biodegradable cell phones that dissolve in water.

Not Terminator; the "liquid" refers to its manufacturing. This is more like Star Trek IV's transparent aluminum.

One of the jurors said yesterday that SYG was the reason for the verdict and said she'd like to see SYG repealed.

I expect the search function is still worthless garbage

No site needs an internal search engine, anyway. searchterm site:slashdot.org works far better than any site's internal search.

I'm not Bill Gates, eight bucks will buy a chicken dinner at Suzie Q's. I'll gladly pay eight bucks for a good paperback or even thirty for a hardcover, but I refuse to reward mediocre hackwork.