I consider myself a Linux noob, as I have only had a year experience with a distribution I have found satisfactory. I have had experience with it since 1998, but as an average non-enthusiastic user I did not use it regularly until this past year. I bought a Dell9 with Ubuntu, and I have had the most minimal amount of problems with it of all distributions (having used Suse, Mandriva/Mandrake, Fedora, Redhat, and Ubuntu). It does have its occasional issue, but nothing that requires much terminal use. So how does the "average user" feel about linux? Not too good. As far as ease of use for someone with little experience, I have yet to find a distribution that compare even closely to OS X or Windows. It's getting there, but it still has a long way to go.

I couldn't agree with you more. You can't blame microsoft for providing a product that people feel comfortable and familiar with using. Why switch when everything is dandy. IMHO, for the common user, Linux is no replacement. Think of the costs associated with familiarizing the staff with Linux. You can't expect people to just switch and learn on his or her own. Personally, I have been attempting to switch on my own, and I just don't see it happening. I'll stick to my mac mini with 10.5 and win7.

Well this all depends on how you look at their study. If you take it as "internet viewers" then yes, you are right. There's quite a large number of "internet viewers" who cannot use flash ie G1's, iPhones, ipod touches, Blackberries, smartphones in general. According to http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=688116 there were 32.2 million smartphones sold in 2008. That's quite a number of devices incapable of flash. If you look at their data, they talk about PC's not internet devices; so they may be right. They appear to be misleading in their term "internet viewers"

Why is this just geared towards Unix? At my house I have a Futurama based naming scheme. The old computer is Farnsworth, the beast is named Bender, the powerbook is amywong, and the upcoming EEE will be nibbler.

Good to see more complaints about this. I have tried kde4 on Suse, and Kubuntu. Both times, I have been disappointed to the point where I just kept using my mac.