Hi Ricardo, Excellent post.

That's good, after I sent it I thought "Oh sh*t I hope I don't start a flame war!". It's coming from the perspective from someone who (occasionally, very very occasionally) works on his linux setup rather than go to the pub.Well, I did once, anyway. ;-) I also spent some time unemployed which is when I first started using Redhat 6.1 - which was suggested to me by my friend who is housebound (and now actually bedridden) due to lung disease. We both had the time and the inclination, but we had both been "Windoze power users" -an oxymoron perhaps!

I was talking to Mark Ray about this ease-of-use issue on Sunday (after an installation of X failed on my debian HD)- there's a real problem with hardware vendors not releasing driver details- it really holds up the install and applications as well. There are plenty of talented programmers who would write drivers, if hardware vendors would only release the specs. I have the outmost respect for the dedication and skill of Linux developers. It's not mean task!

Hopefully- somehow- we'll get there. (And hopefully installing and upgrading WILL be a simply, quick task for all Linux users).

:) Ricardo