I second this. Once I figured out that I could get CS5 to install under WINE, my Windows installation has been gathering dust.

Especially if the third party is crazy

There is nothing inherently bad about standardized testing or teaching to the test, it's the general execution that's flawed. If standardized tests were more comprehensive in nature to truly test competency, standardized tests would be immensely valuable. As it stands now, they are just a random sampling of trivia squeezed down to fit into predetermined and arbitrary time blocks, and make huge assumptions that if you can answer those questions, then you know the rest.

IMHO, this is the issue we should be trying to solve in education. It would make these arguments on whether certain calculators, phones, etc. should be accessible moot.

I agree that both of those are things that should never happen but I would categorize them as bugs rather than features that are lacking. I'm not trying to pass the buck here, but the only way I can think of to prevent those is to create some sort of QA testing routine that ubuntu (and other distros) utilizes before new releases. While it may not catch new stuff, it should catch any regression issues. If the QA testing routine was updated each time a bug was reported and fixed, the overall quality of the system would slowly but surely improve. My question to others is, is there a widely accepted QA testing package that could be employed with respect to distro releases? This would be a great step to take whether you believe that linux should try to beat windows or whether you believe that linux should do its own thing.

Taking you seriously, I would honestly like to know which specific parts you needed to jump to the terminal to finish? It's been a while since my last fresh install, but I don't actually remember needing to jump to the terminal, however, I use the terminal so much that it may not have even registered in my mind that I was doing it. If there's something that doesn't have a GUI way of doing it, I and probably many others would love to volunteer time towards making one.

Depends on what your definition of online degree is, but the M.S. in Engineering and Technology Management degree at Oklahoma State University requires no physical presence on campus whatsoever. All assignments, lectures, grades, etc. are accessed and turned in online. Granted, there are still some glitches here and there that make me realize that online coursework is still in its infancy, but it's been a great way to gain an advanced degree while maintaining a full-time job.