Title of article should be Mistakes 'Nix Fanboys Make
CreativeBlue's comments about command-lines, the ridiculous Linux file system, etc, are right on the money. I haven't looked at responses to your post yet, but no doubt you've been howled down by the Faithful.
I'm on your side. I've used Linux for a couple of years now on an Asus Eee. It's been a real up and down experience that only became tolerable when I replaced the original Xandros distribution with Eeebuntu. And it only remains tolerable because I learned to stop tinkering and be happy with a limited range of applications. Even Eeebuntu got so hosed at one point that the only way out was a reinstallation. And what was the root cause of that hosing? I got burned by an update that the Eeebuntu folks hadn't thought through. Other people got burned at the same time, and the Eeebuntu people were less than sympathetic. They certainly didn't apologise and actually suggested that users figure out a fix and then let everyone know about it.
In the two years I've had my Eee, it's been seriously trashed four times to the extent that a complete OS reinstallation was the only realistic way out. I spent huge amounts of time talking with people on forums and stuffing around at the ghastly command line. What a time sink!
But I concede it's a horses for courses situation: there is no doubt that Linux is the perfect OS for people for whom OS tinkering is the point of having a computer. That seems to be most Linux users, and is why the Linux community just can't understand how its fabulous OS hasn't made it in the desktop world.
I've also played around with various flavours of Linux on my desktops, but I always go back to Windows. Quite apart from the fact that Linux won't let me use my Adobe Creative Suite apps, and other vital apps for my professional work, there's just very little in Linux OS that attracts me compared with my well-tuned XP systems, and now Windows 7.
I haven't totally given up on Linux. I still have the netbook, which I use a lot (for the Net and little else). And my main desktop machine actually dual-boots Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04, which the aficionados say is the great new distribution that will finally change the world. But sorry - Ubuntu is rusting away on that machine. I installed it, played with it for a while, was underwhelmed, and went back full time to Windows 7.
Linux on servers and in specialised applications: great. All power to the Linux-based Android if it can break Apple's iPhone and iPad fascism and deliver more control to users and developers.
But no - I don't seek complete freedom to noodle away all day on a command line.
