[indlebe]

>But I definitely don't see Windows as being tightly focussed nor a single predictable entity.

This is perhaps because you know about the topic. The average user, because MS dominated most computer interactions that they've had, psychologically feels quite comfortable with it.

But I don't know if Linux is ready for the desktop yet. IMHO it's place is in the back-end.

Because Linux has more freedom it attracts developers/coders/programmers that also value freedom over vendor support. Any *nix flavor offers more hackability than MS.

And I think you'll find that the folks who use it think more freely when designing solutions as well.