How about a comparison on merit, not marketing 1500

"Survival" is a relatively useless condition if you are in a coma, eh? I think that a more realistic view is that linux has not thrived except in the hands of proprietary companies like IBM who have taken it over in body, if not in spirit. One aspect of linux, the traditional free spirit community effort, continues to mush along as a pbutttime for the techie bunch who indulge in hobbyist activities. The other aspect of linux is as a lower cost generic alternative to Solaris or AIX or HP-UX or any of the other branded unixes that have also "survived". The hobbyists may take some solace in the name "linux" moving into the upper leagues, but they are not really gaining much.

You take a rather simplistic view of the marketing success of Windows, hank! LOL!!! In the past 10 years what "compebreastor" has been "continuously and all out" attacked by Microsoft? OS-2 died the night Chicago arrived and there hasn't been anything but a minor skirmish since. Windows shipments increase every year as do Microsoft revenues.

All of which adds up to about 2 days pay for Mr. Bill. Do you really think he is worried? Be honest! Gates spends much more time worrying about how to cure AIDS and how to get more Afro-Americans into engineering school than he does about linux.

It's a secret because the linux advocates are too stupid to advertise their wares in places that might be willing to listen to their message. They would rather whine about how unfair it all is than roll up their sleeves and do some genuine selling. IBM, Dell, HP, Red Hat, Novell, etc., could use some free help there, but they aren't ever going to get any. A few folk sitting around discussing how to upgrade the kernel is all there is to the movement, along with you clowns.

You are being blind to the facts. Microsoft and the OEMs supply these kinds of products as a business. You can't have this business without establishing yourself as a viable supplier. They are selling "Wintel" in opposition to Apple Macintosh mostly and doing a fine job of it.

So what is your point? Microsoft has made a market and convinced that market that the home computer is a desirable and useful thing to purchase with one's spare change. It is like a TV set or DVD player, or cell phone, or automobile. It is a discretionary use of income that people who have the income recognize. You are arrogant and set yourself above this consumer because you have some specialized knowledge that he does not possess. You are too stupid to realize that other have knowledge that you do not possess and are using that knowledge to outsell you in the market. Those people think you are silly and wonder why you can't see the handwriting on the wall.

Are you sure that they are the gullible ones? LOL!!!

Correct. Do you disbuttemble your car engine on the weekend, too? I don't. I lease a new one every 2 to 3 years. I don't even change batteries anymore since they last a lot longer than they used to. I just turn the key and point the thing at the beach or Disney or wherever the mood takes me. Sometimes I turn on the computer and connect to the usenet and have a great time poking fun at you soreheads,.

Sometimes I write a little code, too. I like using a computer to do some work as well. I wouldn't spend any time unpleasant womaning about how dumb one OS was compared to another, though, I'd just use the one I liked. I like WinXP Pro more than any other that I've tried.

Well that doesn't make for a very large market, hank! It's a good thing that you don't have to do that for a living!

Well, I don't see any farmers out plowing fields with their TV sets either, hank. What is your point?

And they say that white men can't jump either! I guess you don't like the butterfly guy. We agree on something, anyway. Get a PVR from your cable company and you too will be able to just record stuff ahead of watching it and fast forward past the commercials that you don't like.

What in hell does it "win"? Certainly not any money.

I think you need to give it a rest, hank! You are getting close to going off the deep end! LOL!!!