One Reason Linux is not Main Stream

I am running Ubuntu on my laptop (Dapper, in case you were wondering), and I am finding I have a love hate relationship with it. On the love side, I really like the massive amount of skins I can get for the OS, Beryl, and installing apps using apt-get/Synaptic. However, there are things about Linux that just make me want to pull my hair out.

Namely, installing drivers. Could this be any more difficult? In the Windows world, I'd download a little EXE file, run it, and be guided through a little wizard to get everything installed. Now, on Linux, it took me about 3 days, hours and hours of IRC chat time, and so many Google searches I don't even want to try to count. And after all that, the correct process still had me entering about a dozen commands in the terminal. While part of the blame lies with the hardware makers for not producing easy drivers for the Linux world, a lot of the blame rests with the Linux community of developers for not making driver management an easier world to live in.

However, once things are up and running well, you can do cool things like this.