The Intel situation is unfortunate although not terribly surprising. You have
to remember to keep things in perspective. There are lots of advantages to
GNU/Linux overall that puts Microsoft Windows to shame besides being free.
Not everything should be about hardware (I know I know, sort of a weird thing
for me to say). Hardware is only part of the equation though. The software
that runs on top of hardware is really what ones after. If you value your
freedom OpenGL 3 is certainly good enough. Besides that though for the
majority of users on any platform there are many advantages to using
GNU/Linux over getting the "latest and greatest" on Microsoft Windows.
I'd rather buy a system that respects my freedom that I can fully take
advantage of than a system which does not.
I know none of the people here would ever touch Microsoft Windows although I
will tell you that it runs terribly slowly for the majority of users. It is
so bad as to be describable as unbearable (for those use to running
GNU/Linux). I don't care how much more powerful the hardware one runs is it
is unbearable for the large majority of Microsoft Windows users. The only
reason some might say "it's fast enough" is that they haven't experienced
GNU/Linux or free software.
When an Intel Atom with 2GB of ram outperforms a 6GB dual-core Microsoft
Windows system at a fraction of the price you know there is something wrong.
That is the situation I see almost every day. I work with a lot of
ex-Microsoft Windows users who have switched to the Penguin Wee (the first
generation $249 model based on Intel Atom- although there are also some
Penguin Air users too). I get to see first hand how slow the systems are of
people running Microsoft Windows. The one thing I can say conclusively is
I've never seen a slow GNU/Linux system even with the latest updates
(comparatively speaking). Until you can say the system is unbearably slow you
haven't experienced a typical Microsoft Window's users system.
