The pain I'm finding for Linux, and why Apple is successful (so to speak)

Well, it has not been long into my "30 day challenge" to use only Linux (not even a week) and I'm already feeling some pain. Basically, the pain I'm feeling seems stupid... it ALL revolves around PC hardware and driver issues. Well... not ALL of it... I still have some pain around apps I used on Windows and haven't found replacements I like yet, or, and this is another big one I'll try to tackle at some point, you have to compile the application from source to work on your distribution of Linux (I know there are "unsupported" packages for a lot of distros out there and they are great, but they aren't "in your face available" and you have to search around for them!). Like I said, I'll try to discuss my thoughts on the software subject in this post, but my first priority, that which relates directly to the title of this post, is around hardware drivers and stability because of this.

"Hardware Choices" and why that sucks for non-technical people trying to use Linux:
Hopefully I don't piss any *NIX loyalists off here, but I am trying to approach this from as neutral a ground as possible, thinking about a non-technical user's experience with Linux... someone new to Linux or not very well-versed in operating systems in general, let alone ever going to a command line. Let's face it, the command line is for geeks only. While I myself am a geek, I understand the complexities and lack of help that a command line brings users... just having a cursor sitting there blinking at you waiting for input, without it saying "type this to do that" can be intimidating. That is why GUI is SO important for regular users. It gives them things to click on... choices that they may not have known about.

So, my beef is that, as far as PC hardware is concerned, there are SO many hardware choices and configurations that it is basically endless. It doesn't help that Windows is the mainstream OS and that hardware manufacturers normally don't do a good job (or anything at all) in the way of producing drivers for Linux.

********************* 6/6/09
The above was as far as I got into this post in past... I don't remember exactly where I was headed with this, so I don't think I will finish it. I have since moved back to Windows almost exclusively and have really not had ANY issues. I have even been running Vista 64 for quite a while now and gaming a lot... NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!! That's saying something!

I think where I was headed is the fact that Linux trying to remain ambiguous and neutral is hurting it. Apple has an autonomous environment, and I think that's why it does as well as it does trying to compete with Windows... but Apple is FAR from perfect, and they actually annoy me (even though I willing decided to buy an iPhone 3G know all the things I know about Apple... it's the apps people).

Anyway, I personally think MS is doing most things right these days and am happy with using Windows. Seriously, things just work for me. I NEVER have BSOD's or viruses and I don't even run Anti-Virus software (I just make sure to backup my system every night in case... it's faster). I will even go as far as to say that things work better on my Vista 64 then they do on my wife's iMac 20" G5. This may be because she is still on a G5 and not Leopard... but I was having the same problems with that model when it was mainstream! I'll expand that statement by saying, "If you are using Apple and stay 100% inside Apple's world as far as software and hardware, then you should be just fine."