About the reason for you to switch to linux : There is no reason for you to switch, WHY ? becouse you'r stuck man ;) you programming on only microsoft language you play many DirectX games which are 'microsoft games' and for you the best chat program is mIRC which is MFC Application . SO YOU ARE STUCK sorry for YOU. As someone can say "YOU HAVE BEEN FUCKED" WHY ? because you love windows and you will pay for windows for example 1000$ if they want and you will buy a new pc to have the new windows version running without lag. So .. You Are very fucked :)
for me im a java programmer and there is many opengl programmers so they dont care what OS they use they like pidgin instead of mirc for example so as i said they dont care what are they using, the linux is for them not for you. The linux is just different it is just an alternative Im not saying linux is better than vista and mac os x is more beautiful than vista ( the second is right ) I just say that "THEY" have choice YOU don't have choice :D
You are like secretary which uses only one program for example microsoft office 2007 ( if there is 2007 available ) and she dont know nothing more and dont care about nothing more she is just a secretary.
P.S.
I think that Microsoft WINDOWS is THE BEST OS why because im stuck too maybe not so match but Im stuck too :D

To sum up your statement: "Linux is for people who do not care. Use Windows if you care about your software".

What is more you are wrong. I won't pay $1000 for the OS. I am not stuck with Windows itself. However I will gladly pay $1000 to play StarCraft and I won't use Linux as the only OS even if I am payed $1000 because I won't be able to play StarCraft. I may be stuck but how is stuck in Linux different from stuck in Windows? The only difference I see is the money but I do pay for StarCraft, Internet, food and other things I need. I can't see what's wrong in paying for an OS.

Linux is for :
administrators
chatters
java programmers maybe
python programemrs ruby programmers and perl programmers
maybe php programmers too.
linux is not FOR :
gamers - there is no directX games,becouse directX is microsoft only
designers - there is no good alternatives to Photoshop / FLash / Fireworks etc.
C# programmers - the same as gamers rason.

The idea behind linux is :
that linux users are FANs they are just FANs of the OS like Mac OS X users they just like and LOVE the OS
the Windows is not for fans its for everyone it is the normal choice so nobody LOVE windows just pay and use windows.

Mac OS X is for :
i dont know but eclipse idea looks awesome

I can agree with this. That justifies the market share of less than 1% for desktop Linux. The people that Lunix is for are less than 1% of the computer users so obviously Linux is good in 1% of the cases where Windows is good in more than 90%. So obviously Windows is like 90 times better in the average case.

WTF is GNU/Linux?

mm so for example Stilgar if i understand you correctly because most of the companies in the world prefer Java than C#. And because the Java Developers or the guys who know java are maybe something like 90 or 80% compared to the people that uses C# so Java is let me quote you : "so obviously Java is like 90 times better in the average case. " oki or maybe 80 times :D
right ?
oki i will save(); this for the next generations:D

Not exactly. I do not agree that Java is better for everyone who uses it while you practically agree that Windows is better for everyone who uses it (i.e. is not java/php/python programmer, admin, chatter). Also I may agree that Java is better for 20/3 (get the right ratio please!) from business perspective not technology. For example for Google .NET is not an option just because it is MS tech. It doesn't matter how superior .NET is (if it is at all) Google won't use it. Same for IBM, Oracle, etc. Large companies cannot allow to use tech owned by their direct competitor even if they compete in some other field (for example databases for Oracle). So yes from the PURE BUSINESS perspective of large companies Java is like 7 times better than .NET. That means nothing about the technological perspective. What is more Java is much older and .NET is catching up. I do not believe .NET will ever catch up on Java as a market share but it has good chances to get a ratio like 1:2 where as Linux does not have any chances to get 1:2 with Windows and Linux is the same age like Windows (older if you consider UNIX).

im starting from the bottom to the top :)
first ) Linux and WINDOWS are NOT the same age.
Linux is from 92-93 so... windows has been taken 99% already or maybe 100% of the desktop share. So the situation is the same
Why you think vista is superior from technology point of view compared to linux ? have you used linux only?
can you make one test.
remove your vista
STAY only on linux ( ubuntu for exampel ) for 1 week
1 week no windows only linux
and after this week i think you will say .. oki maybe there is somethink cool in linux somethink cool in the idea.
You dont understand what is cool you say that community is the problem ? no the windows comunity is problem i dont know where to ask question related to vista problem for example maybe i must be a microsoft certified partner to be able to ask ?
For Linux what I LIKE ?
I LIke that many people do somethink FOR FREE
i Like that many people give help FOR FREE
and what i like the most is that i can check every peace of software for example the gnome taskbar I can see who is the author and i can find the mail of the author and mail him and yes HE IS ANSWERING !
the same is with Java
you can see who is the author of some peace of code or some lib or some class yes some which are added and included to the official JDK and you can mail to him and he will answer AND HE WILL ANSWER TO ME! and I AM NOBODY I AM NOT A PARTNER AND I DONT GIVE MONEY FOR THIS HE DIDNT GET MONEY FOR THIS.

So :
From technology perspective the .net commmunity sux the .net sux and the windows sux the wnidows community sux the most you know why :D

So what you propose is that I do not play games for a whole week. I am sure I won't be happy AT ALL, considering the fact that I will not be occupied with work in the meantime. Windows does not need community. It has support (good or bad). If your Windows broke call the one who sold it to you. Simple. What is more there is much more information on Windows than on Linux. The simple reason is that far more people are using it so there is greater chance that someone had your problem before + there are no 465436435 distros. (I copied that from Linux Hater's blog he's gone over that point)

I don't see how the fact that something is free makes it good. BTW I've seen Anders (Hallowed Be His Name) answer questions on the MSDN forums. On the same forums there are people who are payed to answer questions (no need to be partner). If you are a partner you are paying so you can call them any time. No I haven't done it when there is one OS with one database, one web server and one web framework there is no need really. Because the combinations are not countless chances are that even with smaller community someone has run in the same problem before. Choices are bad. Especially choices I don't want to make (read Linux Hater's blog). And finally the community is NOT "technology perspective".

Аве що пишете на на английски ве вазов се върти в гроба!

Vazov se vurti v groba shtoto pishem na angliiski za lunix?

The big problem with the issues LH points at in his blog is that they cannot be solved by throwing lines of code at them.

A proper solution would require *gulps* cooperation. It requires agreeing on standards. It requires a sense of direction, a common, truly shared vision. And those are things the Linux community has proved time and again they can not achieve. They still believe all can do their thing and that they can solve political and organizational problems later as an afterthought by writing piles of code.

In my opinion Linux has not been created by Stallman's ideas of freedom and learning. Linux is the ultimate manifestation of developers' ego. Developers are boosting all the time and that is the reason we like open source. Because we can show off our code. Added bonus for boosting for being helpful to society. Linux is quite good as an ego manifestation however it is not something normal people should use for desktop. The developers will never agree because they have to supress their ego and why should they do that if they started developing for Linux only to show off?

Maybe the idea of the ego is right :D I agree with it :D

about the ego i will quote linus torvelds : "My name is Linus Torvalds and I am your god." this is from 1998 .

hahaha or from 2007 Linus Torvelds : " I have an ego the size of a small planet. "