Linux has become a very powerful and stable enviroment:

I remember the days when my desktop manager in Linux would crash and I had to go into console and restart it. Today I take my Linux box for granted as it is reliable, solid and very very stable.

I noticed recently that I was getting better read/write speeds on NTFS than I was getting in Windows on this netbook.

When ftp'ing some files in windows to lan machines I'd get 2.2mb at best and in Linux I get 11mb.

This operating system is getting to the point that anyone can use it but there are some things that are done best in console and there's no getting around that for now. Linux gets better and better, Windows and Mac you'd better look out

 

Well apart from stability issues which I had very little of I must admit that today's Linux desktop is easier to install and handle and far less hassle free, one I wouldn't hesitate recommending Windows users to try. Actually with nautilus-gksu, you don't even need the console but for us old timers, console is faster and more clearer.

 

The only issues I could see could be hardware issues as my wifi doesn't work all that well and that changes from version to version of the drivers.

 

The problem with Linux is that there is so many differences. freedom is nice but must also be a pain to program for. Im sure its bad enough to make sure a program works fine with windows xp,vista,7 32bit and 64bit and other applications.
different distros have difference versions of kernel,base tools, different package formats etc. so its harder to create applications for linux

I think more should be done with freebsd and desktop usage.

freebsd is a complete operating system unlike like linux which is just a kernel.

Because its a complete operating system it is easier to program for.

Linux works fine for embedded devices such as sat navs,phones,digital tv boxes etc. people dont know what kernel those devices are running nor do they care as long as the device does what they want it to.

btw what windows version and type are you comparing linux to on that netbook?

 

Wireless is a bane but from my experience, the standard stuff usually doesn't cause any issues. Atheros used to be a big pain but with latest kernel, thats working as well. Also hardware support is more kernel specific than distro and therefore its a non issue with various distros hampering hardware situation in Linux.

 

All that doesn't matter when coding, especially if using higher level languages. All you need is to be sure the user has the correct libraries or in the case of C, make sure they have the right GCC and glibc. Kernel version and distro doesn't make much of a difference.