Whatsit, I've used Windows since Windows 287 and Linux since 1998. My first "programming" class was at the Barnes School of Business in 1959, where I learned how to "program" an IBM 402 Tabulator using banana cables on its patch board. Ten years later, in grad school, I took Fortran 4, and I have been programming every since. In 1980 I stopped teaching after nearly twenty years (10 in HS, 8 in college- Physics, Calc, Chem, Microbio, Anat Phys, and others) , and started my own computer consulting (and criminal forensics) business. My last client gave me an offer my wife wouldn't let me refuse because it brought me home in the evenings and on weekends, instead of being gone on programming jobs for 4 to 6 weeks at a time. During the last 5 years of my programming career I used the Qt API on Linux to write client-server software for deployment on LANs using NetWare, Linux and Windows servers. Prior to using Qt I was using MS VS C++ 6.0 for several years. Linux was 2-5X faster on the same source code.
After I retired I became a global administrator for KubuntuForums.net for the last three years and retired from it this spring. I recruited my replacement, Steve Riley. He worked at Microsoft for 9 years and was their network security expert, having co-authored a book about the subject which you might have heard about or read. He started the UEFI section of the KubuntuForums after we started getting lots of problems with people attempting to use a Kubuntu LiveCD to replace or dual boot with Win8. Basically, you cannot disable UEFI. The firmware in a PC is either BIOS or UEFI, not both. Your UEFI configuration
should expose a BIOS compatibility option, which makes the UEFI emulate a BIOS. IF the PC OEM has not supplied a software or hardware switch to enable BIOS compatibility then you are out of luck.
As far as Windows peripheral problems it is and easy task to Google "windows 8 peripheral problems" and see for yourself. As for as your assertion that Linux is "not mainstream" you'll have to explain why all of Hollywood, the banking industry, stock markets, most governments and militarys have switched to Linux. In 2009 Steve Ballmer himself gave a talk and presented a slide on which he showed the Desktop market share. His graph showed that as of 2009 Linux has 12% and Apple had 10%. Since VISTA the Linux market share has only risen. This is evidenced by the fact that most major game software houses are ramping up development and production of games for Linux. In the last 6 months I have purchased almost a dozen myself. As PC sales decline due to smartphone uptakes, Android has dominated the smartphone market share and reached 75% marketshare in 2012 (
http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/02/idc-android-market-share-reached-75-worldwide-in-q3-2012/)
Android is built on top of Linux.
As far as it being "far behind" Windows and Mac I wager that you haven't kept up with Linux, or you wouldn't be making a statement like that. I can to more, more easily, with no DRM or other arbitrarily imposed restrictions than I can with Windows. I OWN my hardware and software. You only lease Win8 and it will allow you to do only what Microsoft will allow you to do on hardware you supposedly own. So you don't really own your own hardware. IF you've ever installed Kubuntu from a LiveCD, and have experience doing the same on Win7, then you will notice that Win7's install panels and questions appear to be direct copies from the KDE install panels, and KDE has been around long before Win7 or even VISTA. Windows had security added as an after thought, Linux is a Unix type system from the ground up, including the Unix security model. IF Linux were as susceptible as Windows then one would expect to see at least 200,000 viruses or more per year, compared to the 2,000,000 for Windows, but one doesn't. Windows has the 10, 20 and 30 million zombie bot farms, Linux does not.
Dell, who toyed with Linux deployment in the past only to tweak lower unit prices from Microsoft, has now entered the Linux community big time, offering Linux boxes
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/11/dell-releases-powerful-well-supported-linux-ultrabook/ Since Microsoft has entered the PC OEM arena and begun competing with OEMs on which they had a monopolistic strangle hold, the OEMs have grown some gonads and begun branching out, away from Microsoft.
But, this is a forum for firearm owners, not OS debates, and its obvious you have no intentions of serving the Linux market, or I would volunteer.
