>As to the alternative OS (linux etc.) I hear it is
>good for computer geeks who are more excited about the
>enrails of heir machines than actually using these
>machines to the real-wold tasks. In other words, high
>transaction costs for those who are not computer savvy
>enough to tweak their own operating systems
>proficiently (that includes me).
Yeah that was my preconception too, but like I said I'm not especially computer savvy and I've had no trouble. Ubuntu is very easy to install - you download it, burn it to a CD (or they can send you a pre-made CD for free in the post) and turn on your computer with the CD in the drive. You can try it off the CD for a while before you install.
The desktop is quite similar to Windows and you use it just like Windows or a Mac, with the mouse. Some people think it's still command line based!
One warning - I installed it so that I could choose Windows or Ubuntu every time I started the computer. The Windows boot does not work. But it's quite possible this is easy to fix - I've never bothered because I haven't wanted to go back. You can access your Windows files from Ubuntu.
Cheers, Mike scandalum.wordpress.com