Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Yeah. Funny enough, people complain about Vista not supporting hardware 
> right, but don't think that's a problem for Linux. :-) "Just buy the 
> right hardware to start with."

  I think there's a categorical difference here. Windows is *supposed* to
support all PC hardware. Every hardware manufacturer always makes sure that
their hardware will work at least on Windows (and most of them don't give
a rat's a** if it works on other systems or not). So Windows has become
more or less the de-facto OS for hardware compatibility.

  Thus when a new version of Windows is published and it breaks compatibility
with common hardware, the complaints are very justified. Basically you are
not getting what you are paying for: You are paying for an OS which will
allow you to use your computer, and Windows has always "promised" to do that.
When it doesn't, it's a ripoff.

  Nobody promises that linux will work perfectly with every piece of PC
hardware in existence. Thus when it doesn't, it's not a surprise. Tough
luck. If you want to use that piece of hardware, you'll just have to use
Windows, wait for the linux hackers to reverse-engineer the hardware to
make third-party drivers for it (because the hardware manufacturers won't
be of any help here), or buy a compatible version of that hardware. Sure,
this sometimes sucks big time, but nobody has made any promises, and it's
not like it's linux's fault (it's the fault of those hardware manufacturers).

  With linux you *are* getting what you are paying for. Thus it's not a
ripoff.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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