drivers

I've almost always had to install drivers from a disc to get Windoze to use the hardware, I've hardly ever had to install drivers for hardware under Linux. With a lot of hardware MEPIS automatically finds and activates the INCLUDED driver. Sometimes, as with printers, you have to tell it which printer you have so that the INCLUDED driver can be loaded. In a few cases, some hardware manufacturers do not provide drivers for Linux and refuse to release enough specifications to allow others to write good, full featured drivers for their hardware.

Plus Linux doesn't disable any hardware features because a third party asked them too.

...and you, in no way, see that both microsoft and hardware manufacturers have been actively engaged in seeing that this is a goal that is as difficult to attain as possible?

Given the reality of the hardware manufacturer OEM vendor landscape (for just about 20 + years, as a matter of fact), and how far the playing field has been tilted against Linux, I'd say that Linux has done far bar better than anyone had a realistic right to expect.

At this stage of the game, Linux has better hardware support than windoze does. I know this because I've done head-to-head installations of both Linux and win-xp on the same equipment. A generic Linux Live CD download against an off the retail shelf version of xp home.

Sorry to tell you (well, not really sorry, but you get the idea) that xp was a nightmare to install, and I had to replace both a motherboard and a sound card because of xp driver support issues.

Linux had no such issues with the hardware used; and, yes, it was SimplyMEPIS 6.0-Final that was installed in that particular test.

Now, if we could just educate the public about the differences between junk hardware, and good hardware, we'd have it made...and that certainly isn't for a lack of trying.

My occupation?
Well, computer geek-stuff, mostly. I could tell you all about it; but, then I would have to delete you.