By Bill Bennett
Leaving Windows takes more than courage. While Microsoft's operating system can be frustrating at times, staying in the Windows comfort zone is probably the only sensible option for most of us.
Apple's OS X may be nicer, but Macs still cost more than Windows PCs - a sound investment only if you've got the money.
Linux sits at the other end of the price spectrum; it is free - or close to free. Yet despite all the efforts of the open-source crowd to make it easier to use, the operating system still looks technically daunting for those lacking a computer science degree.
Novell hopes this will change with its latest Linux release. Novell says SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is good enough to tempt everyday office users to abandon Windows.
It's a big claim. SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 comes close to reaching that goal. However, unless you're willing to get your hands dirty, metaphorically speaking, or you've got a resident propeller head on tap, it's still more technically daunting than Windows.
This hits home the moment you install. With Microsoft Windows, installation boils down to answering a few obvious questions and hitting the return key every so often. SUSE Linux might have the best Linux installation program in this quadrant of the galaxy but you still come up against technically daunting concepts such as deciding how to partition your hard drive.
Of course, you can just accept the default options, they'll almost certainly work. That's not the point. Windows hides all the scary technical stuff and holds your hand. Linux shoves it down your throat.
Some argue this is a good thing as it helps us learn more about computers. Maybe they are right. But most of us are trades people, accountants, sales people or whatever first and systems operators second. We tend to be more interested in the applications: word-processing, web browsing or number crunching, than in a computer's internal workings. Sweeping all that under the carpet isn't laziness, it's focus.
Once SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 is loaded, it's very impressive indeed. I'll tell you how impressive next week.