Okay, I'm confused. The first sentence in your reply says "techs generally don't understand Linux." Your last sentence in point one says "Most techs are Linux savvy enough to set it up properly." Which is it?

Speaking as a non-Linux-savvy professional, I am confused by the number of choices offered by the open source movement in general and Linux in particular. Yes, there are a number of distros available as Live CDs. It's fine to tell a hobbiest "Try one; if you don't like it, try another." The average home user isn't interested in test driving operating systems. He wants to buy the box with as much of it as preconfigured as possible. That usually means a Windows machine from a retailer.