My thoughts on this article, since I submitted it:
Due to bulk licensing and paid bloatware, Windows computers are only about $30 more expensive than they would be without buying the OS. So I think the author gives too much weight to piracy and too little weight to the "My computer already came with a free OS" feeling most people have.
But in general I agree with the conclusion, basically, that Linux loses because people don't want to switch from a "free" OS they're familiar with to a Free OS they don't know. And that if people really did have to pay $100 for every copy of Windows they used, Linux's market share would skyrocket.
Due to bulk licensing and paid bloatware, Windows computers are only about $30 more expensive than they would be without buying the OS. So I think the author gives too much weight to piracy and too little weight to the "My computer already came with a free OS" feeling most people have.
But in general I agree with the conclusion, basically, that Linux loses because people don't want to switch from a "free" OS they're familiar with to a Free OS they don't know. And that if people really did have to pay $100 for every copy of Windows they used, Linux's market share would skyrocket.