Discussion on:

Linux: The big misconceptions

code is open to view. The fact that many open source developers give their products away free is another matter to the way it's developed.

I've been using Linux for about 6 years now. I see a lot of commentary about how it's too hard for the "average user", there's no good place to get started or to find help, etc. I work in tech support full time and I work with techs every day, so it stands to reason that I'm more tech-centric that most of the people I meet on the street. I think, as tech people, we tend to overlook the fact that the "average user" never wants or has to worry about installing Windows, or installing very much in the way of software, or resolving printer issues, etc. They just want to use their computer. They buy Windows machines pre-loaded, take 'em home and plug 'em in, step through the very few, very basic initial setup wizard, and just proceed to use the machine. Let's face it, this is an option that doesn't really exist in the Linux world. I know there are a few vendors selling and supporting pre-loaded Linux systems, but unless you know where to look, you'll never find them. I have yet to see a Linux system for sale at Wal-Mart or Best Buy. And oddly enough, even though Dell does preload Ubuntu, you have to pay a $200 premium to buy a system pre-loaded with a free OS! I haven't quite figured that one out yet...
Truth is, if you take an already loaded and tweaked Linux box and put it in the hand of a non-techie and spend about 30 minutes going over the basics with them, they will be able to do almost everything your average user needs to do. Case in point, I have a real good friend who is extremely non-technical, and who has two teenage children who like to do the kinds of things with computers that almost guarantee malware infections on a Windows box. I take care of his computers for him, and a while back he brought me his desktop, which was suffering from a crippling infection for the third time in as many months. I didn't have available time to work on it as the moment, as a complete wipe and reload was the only cure, so I took him a Fedora box that I'd been using (I have several around the house), plugged it in to his network, set up a user account and printer for him, and showed him how to navigate Gnome 2 well enough that the could get around on the box. It took about a month and a half before I could find the free time to reload his system, during that time he called twice with simple questions that I could easily answer over the phone. When I finally called him to tell him that I had his system ready, he kinda hesitated for a minute, then asked me what I had put back on it. When I told him I had reloaded Windows on it, he hesitated again and then asked, "Can you put this stuff on it? The kids and I have done anything we wanted to do on it since you brought it over, and we haven't had a minute's trouble out of it." I loaded Fedora on his desktop and took it home, and the only time it's been worked on since then was to add a new printer he bought. It's been running trouble free for over two years, where before I was having to disinfect his system at least every 3 months regardless of whatever antivirus and antimalware software he was running.
I think that's why Linux is catching on much faster in the enterprise world than on the home desktop. The enterprise has IT staff to handle the difficult stuff and a phone number to call when things go wrong, and all the user has to do is use the machine. If some of the larger vendors would get serious about supporting the Linux desktop, instead of the few that sell Linux preloaded systems acting like they're embarassed to do so, the percentage numbers on the Linux user base would skyrocket.

I just want my desktop to work with as little of my time and effort as possible. Time spent learning how to edit the xconfig file to get my tv-out to work is time that I could spend working or learning something else. And as the OS changes, whatever I've learned becomes obsolete.

Of course windows has it's idiosyncrasies as well. Although, it seems to me the solutions are usually simpler and implemented faster. But the main reason I'm going to stay with windows is I have to work on windows and I'm not interested in investing time in both.

you have to learn them for Windows. Many versions like Ubuntu and Zorin you just install and use - easier too if you have a friend who can install it for you.

Recently set up a system for a friend's daughter with Zorin OS 6 and the Win 7 interface for her. She says it's easier to use than the Win 7 laptop she has. That's from the daughter who has a learning difficulty and is hard pressed to remember to connect on the Fire Fox logo to get the Internet.

I rember the first time I opened office with it's new ribbon thingy, spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out where Print went.
It's not that you don't want to learn Linux, it's that you don't want to learn KDE or Gnome.
You are an appliance user, fair enough, but the only myth I see is the idea that the rest of us are, as well.

It's not just the interface. It would be if the GUI always did everything for me but I still need to install software, connect to network shares and get new hardware to work.

I'm not saying you are wrong to stick with windows because you know it.

I'm not saying there's something wrong with you because you don't want to make the effort to move away from it.

What I am saying is Linux is not windows. It's the expectation that "you won't notice the difference" that gets most first (or even 2nd and 3rd) attempters.