Oh, great. Now the far rightos will hate Linux even more than they already do.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

Check who the top two countries in desktop Linux usage are.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2011/05/12/the-top-20-strongholds-for-desktop-linux

As a server OS, Linux has long been highly successful and a poster child for open source. For example, Linux currently powers a majority of the world’s web servers and supercomputers. As a desktop OS, however, Linux has yet to gain mainstream acceptance.

That said, there are some countries where people have embraced Linux on the desktop to a greater degree than most.

Since you probably wouldn’t be able to guess which these countries are no matter how hard you tried, we have highlighted them in this article. Read on to find out where desktop Linux is most popular, plus some nice bonus stats. (more at link)

And, as if that weren't enough, "Europe comes out as the overall most Linux-friendly world region."

The inescapable conclusion:

[LAGC]

1. Open source software rocks!

Proof that capitalism isn't the only viable way to get things done.

[Azathoth]

9. I love open source as well, but don't forget that many contributors spend their daylight hours

working for companies on projects that are, shall we say, less than open.

Open source is great philosophically, but it's also nice to be able to pay the rent :)

[iscooterliberally]

2. I just inherited my MIL's old computer.

It had Windows on it, but it was hobbled. I think she had Vista maybe. I went to go get an upgrade disk, but Best Buy wanted $120 for the upgrade alone. I loaded Slackware instead. It's a learning curve, but I did it before. I can do it again. Now if I could just figure out how to make it play videos with that Flash thingie... :beer:

[MineralMan]

3. I have a Linux machine.

Whenever things seem to be going too well in my life, and I'm in danger of becoming happy and confident, I fire it up and try to find drivers for some unusual peripherals I use with my Windows PC. That sets up the proper pessimism I need to balance my life. It's an important tool in my quest for the middle road.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Those devices must be very unusual indeed.

What, exactly, are they?

[Occulus]

5. Probably things nobody else uses

I've never had a problem, even with webcams and digital cameras, which are notorious for only working with "their" drivers.

[MineralMan]

7. You're right that nobody uses them, but I do. And both are

cameras. Imagine that.

[MineralMan]

6. Not all that unusual, really.

An Intel Play microscope, which I use for extreme closeup photography and videography. I can use the camera, but not the built in lighting, so my images are not what they should be. That's one.

Another is an off-brand video camera, which included software-controlled pan zoom and focus features. It's a parallel port device. No joy with that one at all. It wouldn't matter, but I like the camera, despite its age an obscurity. On my PC, it's part of an outdoor monitoring system. In Windows, I wrote my own software to control it. I no longer program, since MSFT screwed up Visual Basic, my language of choice.

But, it's OK. I don't actually use the Linux machine for anything, really. It's just a toy to screw around with when I'm bored.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. Windows XP, I suppose?

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=160&DwnldID=19508&ProductFamily=PC+Accessories&ProductLine=Intel%C2%AE+Play%E2%84%A2+Toys&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Play%E2%84%A2+QX3%E2%84%A2+Computer+Microscopeeng

"Intel(R) Play(TM) Toys and Cameras are no longer being manufactured by Intel. Additionally, Intel no longer provides interactive support for these products via telephone, e-mail, or chat, nor will Intel provide any future software updates to support new operating systems or improve compatibility with third party devices and software products. Microsoft Windows* 7 and Microsoft Windows* Vista are not supported."

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. So? I use the devices on an almost daily basis, and they

are important to my needs. They work perfectly on my Windows XP computer, which I have no reason to change.

[hootinholler]

8. My guess is a paper tape punch. n/t

[Tesha]

10. Well, it's pretty hard to find a hardware interface between a (say) BRPE high-speed paper tape punch

and a PCI bus, but given how much of Linux descends
from Unix, if you could find one, you could probably
make it work. And I'll bet the ASR33 paper tape punch
and reader work just fine right now.

But Linux does tend to fall down off in the unpopulated
corners. Embedded and Realtime support still needs *A
LOT* of work as does support for Flash Memory mass
storage. The GUI(s) is(are) still evolving as well and
are nowhere near PC or Mac levels of sophistication
yet. And while it's doubtless fun to have a file
system for every day of the week, one really good
one (e.g., ZFS) could replace the whole rag-bag of
existing Linux filesystems.

But if you're a computer tinkerer, Linux was absolutely
meant for you; you can easily spend the rest of your
life tinkering with it and never even have to come up
for air.

Tesha