Linux Fails The Family Test BADLY! 2792

We've had different experiences here. The fact that linux is not susecptible to drive-by download and installation of spyware, viruses, and other malware is seen as a huge plus.

Once again, different experiences. I'm not sure what version of gaim you were using, but buddy icons have been available for quite some time already. Nor do we see the problem of random disconnects. In fact my daughter, in her teenage eloquence, describes AIM as "sucky" compared to gaim!

FWIW, I've been using OpenOffice.org for all my team projects in my Master's degree program and have had no problems exchanging documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. with fellow students using Windows.

That is true for sites that use proprietary Microsoft extensions, but for sites that use e.g. flash, java, etc. we've had no problems. But it's hardly linux' fault that Microsoft doesn't support its stuff on anything but Windows.

Mplayer supports WMP codecs in linux.

If you could buy a PC with linux pre-installed the way you get Windows PCs you would probably have a different opinion. Or if you had to start with a bare machine and install and configure Windows and all the stuff to do what you describe above, you would likely find it just as frustrating as you've found linux to be. Microsoft does everything in its power to discourage PC vendors from selling pre-installed linux machines, but they can be found if you look hard enough.

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