Tell that to my laptop.

flopsy, I concur.

I think the more important question is, is the desktop ready for Linux?

Let me clear some space off of it, first. Does Linux like malted mini eggs? I got them on sale and now they're just sitting on my desk.

Is Windows ready for the desktop?

I don't know about Linux, but I like malted mini eggs. They are fully supported in this release of Capn.

The desktop needs Linux. The desktop is crying out for security and flexibility. Linux can offer so much, but it's too much work.

I normally use XP. I've tried Ubunutu, and it's nice and all, but loads of really basic stuff isn't quite there yet. E.g. WMV/QuickTime, mice with extra buttons, file sharing. In a way, I'm disappointed. There's so much promise.

I used Debian as my primary OS for two years, so I know my way around. But I can't be bothered. I want it to just work.

flopsy, all those things are possible. My ex-girlfriend (very non technical) converted to Ubuntu (I told her not to, I thought it would be too hard). She loves it, and has videos (wmv, quicktime) and scroll wheels, etc. working.

Linux would be ready for the desktop if KDE and Gnome didn't suck shit through straws.

Did she do it all by herself? Colour me impressed if she did! It's all doable, I know, but it needs a decent amount of effort. E.g. to get all my mouse buttons working properly, I would've needed to fiddle with xev and xorg.conf. You can't expect the non-techie to do that. In Windows it's as simple as pointing and drooling.

Admittedly, for the most part it's only a lack of vendor support that's holding Linux back. But the end-user doesn't care. They're just pissed because they have to use mplayer to listen to 6 Music because Totem refuses to work to Windows Media files (I had the gstreamer plugins and everything!)

I think Gnome is lovely (the HIG rules!). What don't you like about it?

I haven't checked this stuff out in ages. Does WINE support new games a little sooner these days? How about Civ 4, for instance?

What don't you like about it?

The widgets are ugly if you don't use the theming engine, and the theming engine feels slow. I also really dislike GTK+, as writing a GUI application in C just doesn't feel right. Those aren't major gripes, but I still run IceWM on my workstations because Gnome feels clumsy and hack-ish.

KDE isn't much better; it has really odd shared memory management practices.

ironically, desktop linux doesn't suit people with average skills. It's great for people who know their shit, and it works wonders for the majority of people who simply need to surf and send emails, but for me (and I suspect people like me), it's really frustrating. I've given up on Linux a couple of times because it just doesn't give me what I want in a way I can deal with.