Re: Well done!
"Average users install software everyday, they restore Windows everyday, they are perfectly able to install an OS with a gui interface."
Eh? "Average users" don't have a f*cking clue what an operating system even is, let alone why they should have to piss away 20-40 minutes of their lives waiting for it to install.
When I buy a car, or a washing machine, or any other fucking appliance, I expect it to work out of the box. That's what most people here seem to be failing to understand. 99% of the people out there couldn't give a flying toss what their hammer is powered by, as long as it bangs in the damned nails.
The OS is a component. It is not—and never has been—the alpha and the omega of IT. It's just a program that lets you run other programs. Stop treating it as if it were special.
Besides, if "competition" were truly what most people were after, why are you trying to do down Microsoft when their OS is practically the only non-UNIX-based choice available? Or do you genuinely believe that an OS designed back in the days of flared trousers and The Clangers is the only OS worth keeping in the 21st century? Because, from where I'm sitting, that's a bloody sight more dangerous to our industry's long-term future than anything Microsoft has ever done—and I include all their business shenanigans in that.
As for the court case: this is Italy. It'll have taken years to grind through the system—Italy's legal system makes continental drift look fast—so is probably referring to a purchase made back when Charles Babbage was still alive. I doubt it'll have any lasting repercussions. Especially as Windows hasn't had a "90% share" of the desktop / laptop market for some time now.