Could they be trying (horribly) to fill the various niche markets, just as linux is with their dozens (hundreds?) of distros?

I agree with him...to an extent. Yes, it's true that having several distributions does help fill in some niche markets, but having 100s?? That just leads to confusion. Besides, where has linux gone (in terms of market share) in the past several years? Virtually nowhere.

One big problem that newbies (such as myself) have is that not only are there tons of widespread distros to choose from (ubuntu, fedora, suse...), but each look and feel differently wrt each other (my experience, anyways). That makes breaking into linux that much harder - How do we choose? Just like the /. gripe about windows Vista having "too many" options (7?) for a consumer to have a good sense of what to get, can you imagine 100s?

I think it's time for a different approach: have a few (3? 4?) "main" distros (in order to foster some kind of competition) for the newbie (like ubuntu), the advanced version (for /.ers) and derivatives for niche market. Anyways, just my 0.02. Opinions?

Not really. Assuming that the screw-ups are random (hence do not derive from some attribute such as jurisdiction, sex etc...), then with 98% of the votes, you should have the same proportion of votes as you would otherwise (at least with a very high probability), and hence the same seating arrangements - even using the Finnish method.

The problem, therefore, is to determine what exactly is causing these errors and whether or not they can be considered random.

That's not true - at UMass Amherst, we also had the MSDNAA. I highly doubt UMass is "for profit". Not even sure how it's pertinent to the parent post.

Not really. Sure, tuition does pay part of it, but who pays the rest? That's right - you, the tax payers! Perhaps all us massachusettsians should use windows, then....or complain (hey, i might be on to something!)

so, a class that critiques scientific theories is the promotion of critical thinking, while a class that critiques religious beliefs is religious intolerance? makes sense to me *rolls eyes* Don't get me wrong, I actually favor critique of thinking (give me one perfectly done experiment), yet this should be taught in tandem with scientific classes, not in place of it. Teaching religion as "the solution" to all of science's flaws will only set the state back. Oh well, at least it's louisiana...