Some interesting point here, generally I agree with what you say. However you must not forget that M$ is where it is today NOT because of good software but because of a history of sharp practice in marketing that stretches back almost to the foundation of the company.One of thier best departments must be the legal one who in the past have tied down PC makers to MS products to the total exclusion of other OS's. After some many years of developement and the huge amount om money that MS say they have invested in developement Windows should be a lot better than it is.
At present I use both 8.1 and Win98SE and IMHO in every area where it counts 8.1 is better with the exception of installation of software. As you said what we need is some standardized features including an installer along the lines of those used in Windows. The rest of the time the diversity of Linux is one of the things I like about it because no matter what you want to do Linux does it better (excepting playing games). You only have to look at how much better / easier installing Linux is now compared with what it was not that long ago. In general though I think the developement of Linux, any distro, is going well when you consider how long it's been in developement, ten years, and how long MS have been working on Windows. Stewart
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