Re:the blight is really bloat (Score 3, Insightful)

Ho hum.

I don't have the Karma around to burn on this, but there are about a thousand different things wrong with that description of the situation

And before anyone tar's and feather's me for supporting Microsoft, note that I use Debian for Everything - I have 2K hidden on a partition that's getting dusty in case someone releases a cool game.

Now:

1. If you want to make sweeping statements about bloatware, try comparing apples and oranges: Win95's compact install will probably be just about as useful as installing just the kernel and the absolute base on Linux: Can be done in under 10 Megs, and if you just want to see a blinking prompt it will probably suit you just fine.
2. On the other hand, the WinXP install (with all components) clocks in at 1.5 Gigs. Debian comes (compressed) on 6 CD's last time I installed from CD (apt-get and .edu networks rule :) ) - with all components, this kind of thinking could lambaste (sp?) Linux as bloatware.
3. All those components may contain lots of bugs, but they also contain a fairly solid number of features that people need / want: people want a browser (that it sucks and kills competition is another discussion entirely), a cd-writer, a music thingy ...

So the sad, truth of the matter is that yes, Microsoft sucks. And yes, I will never install XP. But to call it bloatware because it takes 1.5 Gigs to install (and then to refer to that as a "windowmanager") is somewhat misleading.