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These are only 7 of the 20 complaints about Linux. For Windows, I have 40 complaints.

i have to disagree with alot of the dismissings of these complaints.
i believe most are legit

Its plain and simple, I dont understand why this topic already after 10 years it again and again.

Linux roots are from Unix, Unix it was developed for Servers, Custom/Embedded hardware and workstations not for the avarage PC.
Windows come from MSDOS roots and it was an OS for the avarage PC.

So Windows is for the desktop PC, Grandma, Play games, listen/watching to videos or music, chat with friends and navigate the web.
Linux is for Servers, Workstations, Embedded Systems, Gadgets, Supercomputers and If you have the guts to put in your PC it can be a desktop OS too.

I am getting really fed up with this kind of religious links trying to convince people to get Linux. I sure do not see this kind of articles for Windows or Mac on DZone. I would be very happy if these kind of articles could be blocked.

Actually this article is not to convince people to get Linux. It is a Linux hater and the author try to tell that Windows is superior but in an arrogant manner.

I stop reading after the first complaint. The writing style is pompous and the author has a superior attitude. As for the complaints themselves, explaining the why's and wherefores about why Linux doesn't do something out the box is a waste of time. The average user just wants "it" to work - I don't think they give a toss about the politics of why it doesn't or why something isn't supported.

90% semantics, 10% substance

The underlying rule behind any desktop operating system in a users eyes is simple, I.J.W.
IT JUST WORKS

no excuses about how to install stuff to get mp3's or dvds to run, no excuses about lack of popularity means lack of games, no excuses, stuff is just supposed to work the way a USER expects it to

if that means a LOT more work for developers, so be it
but until IJW is actually taken to heart by the Linux community at large we won't see Linux as a major contender to Windows or MacOSx

(full disclosure: I'm quite a bit more of a Linux buff than I sound, use it every day on a farm of servers, I'm just a little more practical than most Linux fanboys having had to actually support Linux Desktops in the field before)

Ubuntu is getting far enough ahead of the pack that I can picture within a few more major versions that they'll be a real contender in the OS market, they just need to make it easier for someone who isn't computer literate to install stuff (Synaptic is easy, but unintuitive to find and a little to use the first time, not to mention the package volume is confusing) and run a DVD or play MP3's out of the box, these sound like small items, but they tend to be deal breakers.

"I, like most Linux advocates, have demonstrated the power of Linux to people who had no idea such power existed in technology, much less in free technology." *rolls eyes*

I'll sum the article up for everyone else: "X does not smell, it is odoriferous, which is not the same thing"