Over the years I've tried alternatives to Windows on a number of occasions. I'm fairly technical (I can find the Ctrl, Alt and Del keys 9 times out of ten) but even then I've struggled on a number of computers to get various Linux distros working to a point where I'd be comfortable enough to switch.

I did spend a year as an OSX user which was interesting, but even there I still relied heavily on the Microsoft Office suite and Entourage to get things done (and VirtualPC was my friend) but despite the fact the new Macbook Pros are great machines I've been back on Vista for a while now.

I was interested to see that Dell, amongst others, are releasing consumer machines pre-loaded with Linux. There aren't embedded Consumer Electronics devices, or bleeding edge hardcore geek machines but the sort of thing my Mum might consider.

Given my experiences I was hoping to hear that Dell had produced a machine that was as slick and painless to use out of the box as Vista Home Premium for basic every day stuff. According to Walt Mossberg though it looks like they've a little more work to do in order to get it polished.

The good news... hopefully getting Linux distros in front of typical users will help to push the quality of the product... which in turn will drive more improvements in both OSX and Vista (a little bit of healthy competition for the user experience can only help the user at the end of the day)