uPnP? Well, should I count all flaws in Linux kernel? I remember few, some were _very_ dangerous - one was kicked out friend of mine (small ISP company) out of business (someone spent few days on DoS against them).

So uPnP is only argument against MS and WinXP? Properly configuired system doesn't have this problem, BTW. Not documented? Well, should I mention most of Linux distros which had NFS, unpatched WuFTPd etc. opened by default?

And concerning StarOffice... I prefer MS Office - because it is intuitive. I like it. I tried StarOffice once - it is far away from MS Office.

Should I mention bucnh of other apps as well? Please give me alternatives for MS Visio... Or... I will not talk about MS only. List me comparable products for Linux which are as good as products like Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia HomeSite, etc...

I will not argue - for some apps Linux (Unix) is better. But for desktop use - sorry, you miss. No way. Not yet.

Security? Well. WinXP and its Internet Connection Firewall. Just turn it on - you can forget about uPnP & co. Same applies to Win2K, BTW.

OK... I admit that both OS have advantages and disadvantages... But I cannot believe that experience behind MS (and their techies) is less than experience behind techies of free software. I spent few years trying to find alternatives to MS' Office, Money & Visio - I couldn't find for Linux. Still. I tried several apps for HTML authoring under Linux - and only suitable and confortable is HomeSite which doesn't exist on Linux. GIMP is far away from perfect, comparing to Adobe's Photoshop or Jasc' PSP... Sure, one _can_ use GIMP to get same quality and results as with Adobe etc. But... WHat is the price (time)? It's something like portable writing compilers in assembler...

As I said before - for _server_ apps Linux (Unix) is better. But for desktop apps... Sorry. No way.

And again about secururity - Win's ACS is _far_ flexible and powerful comparing to Unix/Linux. Don't even compare. You can do virtuially everything - at least starting from Win2K. And - yes - I _can_ use it. Security model on Unix is weak by defintion - this is not only my opinion (and this is obvious for everyone who is familiar with IT security).

I dislike advocacy of any kind, but sorry... What you are trying to tell forces me to. There is _no_ alternative. I would like to see all the features and technologies which are implemented in Windows - in Linux. But - there is _no single one_. Including desktop. Stability? No-no. No way. I had only two crashes on Win2K and two on WinXP - during normal operations (no heavy load), while I had dozen of crashes on Linux during same period (also no heavy load). And - systems which I installed & configured - starting from WinNT 4 - had uptime of several months, one even almost one year. I've same uptime (and even more) on Linux, though.

No, I am not trying to say that Windows is better. No. I just trying to say that system is stable _if_ you can handle it. If you _know_ how to use it, how to configure it. I can, and I know.

Just as an example... All system, which I installed/configured (Windows based), had no problems for quite long time. No breakins, no viruses, no problems at all. But I know a lot of companies which were stick to Linux/BSD etc., which had a lot of security related problems. So?

Next time... Please, be honest. When you mention flaw or problem in Windows (or other system), and compare it to Linux (Unix), please spend some time and find flaws in those as well. There is _no_ software without flaws. But - if you really want to - you can handle it. At very beginning.

PS: We can discuss this endlessly... But... Believe me... 10 years ago I had same opinion - "MS is evil"... It was changed, over time. They improve. You can't beat this. No one did _better_. Or? Please list me names who did. I would like to compare. But - facts only, please. Things like "You can use StarOffice insted of MS Office" don't count - I can use assembler and Z80 (and 64K RAM) to simulate nuclear processes, but you understand (I hope) that I won't do this... Especially when I've P4 and gigs of RAM...

In case if you curious - no, I don't work for MS. And I've np plans to. I am not MCSE as well. I just know what to do when I've to.

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