[Fsfe-uk] Advantages of Linux over Windows for the home user?

[Tristan Roddis]

I've just read a recent Gruaniad article that perturbed me:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,712582,00.html

It compares Linux features with Windows and concludes "Although most of us
will continue using Windows on our desktops for the time being, Linux is
slowly moving in the right direction."

I was going to write to correct some of the glaring errors ("Windows is
better at [...] protecting itself against the user who accidentally
presses the wrong button and deletes crucial files", "open source software
[...] is achieving some success, thanks largely to champions such as IBM")
but I also wanted to point out that Linux provides some features
unavailable to Windows users. What are these? I could think of:

* ability to have several people using the machine at the same time
* ability to display programs on remote computers
* ability to control all aspects of the machine remotely
* included webserver, databases, programming languages
* um
* er
* that's it.

Can anyone think of other things I should mention (specific features for
the home user, rather than just generalities such as stability,
flexibility, etc.)

Thanks,

-T.

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