For Linux to be a general desktop system, it needs to be usable by the general population at large. A middle age non-computer type would *NEVER* be able to use Linux. Until it reaches the point that it can recover gracefully from something as simple as a printer running out of paper, it really isn't going to make large inroads against Windows. If you told an average user "just restart the print service", he'd reply "Why do I have to do that? Windows kept going automatically."
Windows doesn't always just keep going automatically. When I run out of paper in Windows it tells me that I've run out of paper, but when I put more paper in it still insists that there isn't any paper there. It's easier to restart both the printer and Windows than figure out how to make it work. Taking my parents as the middle age non-computer types, if they had a problem with their printer they call me and I step them through fixing it. Unfortunatly they are still running Windows.(I don't know about specifically restarting the printer service, never had that happen to me in Linux.)
There is no question that in many ways, Linux is superior to Windows. Until it grows a bit more in the area of being able to recover from simple problems, the average person isn't going to use it.
Simple problem: Internet browser crashes. Windows, the whole system shuts down. Linux, you can restart the program right away and keep on going.
I'm a Linux newbie, so I really don't know what's happening in this area. Is there work being done on this type of recovery?
My point is that no matter what OS they are running non-computer types are going to have problems and when they do they will call someone for help. Personally I'd much rather explain some basic Linux concepts than tell them that the file they deleted wasn't really a virus, Windows 95 needs that file and go find a copy of it on the internet for them. Gretchen