And the readers had plenty to say on the subject of if, when and how Linux will finally come into its own, grabbing a significant share of PC desktops. It won't happen until businesses adopt Linux en masse, pushing home users who need to duplicate their work environments to install it at home, said one. No, games will be the motivator; the more games for Linux, the more home users, and consequently the more pressure on businesses to adopt the OS of choice for home users. Linux is still not ready for prime time, said some - still too complicated and techie; nonsense, said others, it's ten times easier to install than Windows, not to mention more stable. Free software is the engine that will push Linux; as users pick up on free/open source apps that work just as well/better as commercial apps, they'll be more willing to give Linux a chance. Nonsense, say others; there are more than enough FOSS applications for Windows, and as far as the OS is concerned, if it ain't broke, there's no incentive to fix - or change - it.

 

Differences of opinion is exactly what you would from committed Linux users. A platform that has over 1,000 variations (http://www.linuxcd.org/) - did I really write "dozens" last week (http://tinyurl.com/yoymq2 - must have been on something!)? - is obviously going to have lots of ways of doing things. As someone who has worked extensively with users of both mindsets, I can tell you that having dozens or hundreds of choices and decisions to make is exactly what scares non-techie Windows users, who are used to having everything work in a singular manner they are used to.

 

 

 

In other words, Vista is not just a software upgrade - it's a hardware commitment. And that is probably going to be enough to get folks upset, when they find out that a Vista-ready PC - upgraded or brand new - is going to cost more than they expected. I know some people are going to say that $1,400 isn't all that much for the computing power you get, and that a few hundred of that goes for Office and a monitor (in the E521's case), but even without those options it's clear that there is a price penalty of as much $300 to $500 for using Vista - because both those Dell computers off the shelf would run XP with no problem. And $300 - $500 is enough money for users, home and small business, to start considering their OS options.

 

 

 

 

But you don't have to install Linux to play with Linux. Instead, you can download one of the Live CD versions of Linux (http://www.tuxs.org/trylinux.htm), You download a disk image of the OS and burn it to a CD - then start up your computer from the CD. It's a bit slower than a "real" install would be, but since the objective here is to familiarize yourself with the system, the Live CD system should work just fine.