[w1ntermute]

> First, Windows doesn't "manage" a dizzying array of hardware profiles, try to install a vanilla windows-copy. Literally nothing works. The display is 640x480. USB is out, network is out. I had to burn a CD rom with the network driver to download the rest of the drivers.

That might have been the case with XP (and perhaps Vista), but with 7 & 8, basic things like video, USB, and networking have worked just fine out of the box. And I say this as an Ubuntu user.