I''d like to start by saying that this months linux journal had an interesting survay about web browsers that applys to the os dispute as well. they said that a common opinion of the available browsers (netscape, mozilla, IE, Kongorer) most useres said they all suck just in different ways. That''s true in the windows - Linux dispute too.

I personaly have 3 systems.
2 running win2K and one running Linux.
1 of the windows machines was a server that I''ve been migrating to the linux system and will probably stop using as a server in the next few months. Both my Win2K and Linux servers have been up and running for over 8 mo. and were only shutdown once so that they could be moved.

Windows is an easy target because MS is a big company that has total control over the os and can easily be blamed for everything. Linux on the other hand is open source and if theres somthing wrong with it people can go fix it themself''s. If they don''t then they can''t blame anyone but themselfs for there system not working right. Windows users on the other hand has to wait for MS to acknowledg and release a fix.

Of course if you read the EULA for windows there some fine print that says something allong the lines of ... If you change the original configuration of the system from the default instalation the system is no longer gaurenteed to function properly ... meaning that if you change the desktop color you violate the EULA. I think they removed/ reworded that but it''s something they''ve said before.

As for windows crashing... that''s about 30% MS''s fault and 70% the software / hardwar fault. There are bugs in Windows just like there are bugs in Windows. Most of the problems I''ve ever had with windows crashing is due to programs/drivers that behaved badly.
Don''t beleve me? the most recent crashing problem I''ve had started when I upgraded from 256M ram to 768M and started getting 1-2 random crashes a day. after about a week I figured out that it was durring hw accelerated graphics operations so I replaced the OEM drivers with the lattest nVidia refference drivers and poof, No more problem. Turn''s out the OEM drivers had a bug in them that would cause problems in any system with > 512M ram that they already knew about and was fixed in a latter version of the driver.

Other problems have been with software that failed to check return values from API calles. Improper handling of window messages, failing to free allocated memory. I actually found a program once that didn''t properly check the return value of getmessage and didn''t leave the message loop. all the windows were closed but the thread still exsisted (wasting resourses)

There''s any number of exapmles I can think of where friends have had me look at some problem there computer has where they were blaming MS and it turned out to be somehting they had installed.

Am I defending MS? NO! I wish Linux would become the major OS but not untill certian problems with it are fixed. Or more to the point with the Linux comunity. Problem #1: Most (not all) people I''ve talked to that like linux also think that every piece of software should eather be free or opensource or both. Untill the Linux community starts showing a willingness to pay $$$ for software the big companys are going to keep developing for Windows so they can make a profit. Problem #2: there are 20 different programs available to do any given task and they all come with every distrabution of linux and everyone uses different ones and so you have to try to translate doc''s to whatever one your using. and lastly Problem #3: point and click user configuration, this is one area that HAS been improving. Mandrake 8 has some good GUI user interfaces for the instalation and configuration of the system.

With that out of my system I''d just like to add one more point.
Were all going to die anyway and then it won''t matter how stable your system is!

"The only system that never crashes is the one that''s never turned on!" - Me