OSNews

The sad thing is, Microsoft is the only alternative to Apple that the vast majority of people even knows anything about and, therefore, will turn to. And they're just about as bad; worse in some ways, but a little better in others. Linux has barely even gained a foothold, being limited to two or three of Dell's absolute bottom-of-the-line machines or system76, which no one's probably even heard of. You might see some random machines by other OEMs too, but I'm not aware of which ones off the top of my head.

In my experience, it's been nearly impossible to successfully convince someone to buy a Mac anyway, with "I don't like the way it looks/works" and "I want to just be able to walk in a store and pick one up." Occasionally, I hear "they cost too much" and/or "the screen is too small." If Macs are that hard to get someone to try (and like enough to use), then man... Linux is gonna have a hell of a time gaining traction.

I set a friend's Vista Basic laptop to dual-boot with Ubuntu, and he kind of liked it... but for some reason, seemingly randomly, the system would lock up on a black screen when trying to start X.org, requiring a hard reset. He wasn't too happy, and quite honestly, with the potential for data loss, that's seriously not good--so I even had to recommend he just continues Windows for the time being.

That was one, going on two, versions ago. Still hasn't asked to update... not sure if he will or not.