pbear, how many times in Windows do you go to open a program, and it fails to load?

How many times does a program lock up? If you've been running a system for a while, over a year, how long does it take to boot?  Windows by nature gets slower over time, because of fragmentation.  Then you have to defrag... more maintence.

Thats unacceptable.

Linux being free is not the only advantage.  Its also secure.  You are not running in the equvilent of root all the time.  How much resource sucking anti malware do you have to run, just to be able to keep viruses off your pc?

Linux is immune to Windows viruses.  You can pick them up, but they just sit there, they do nothing to the computer.  I spend almost no time scanning for viruses and worrying about threats.  Linux can get Linux specific viruses, but they are far harder to write, because they cannot easily install themselves like in Windows.  Windows is a virus magnet.

That alone is a major drawback.  My Windows 7 machine, I don't even put it online for that reason.

Crashes after installing freeware are probably due to the freeware being infected with a virus.

Well Mickey, I don't know when it was you last ran Linux in IT, but things have changed quite a bit. If it was recently, I would have to say IT didn't do something right...LOL!   Because it just doesn't do that. There are dozens and dozens of different Linux based operating systems, and on occasion, someone might put out a bug ridden system.  If you stick with a large distro like Debian, you will not have those problems.   Perhaps you meant a program crash?  Some programs are buggy, but less now than in the past.  Perhaps IT modified the system?  Who knows.

I know from experience a lot of these IT guys get stuck in their ways.  My wife runs Oracle in her dept to run the intruments, {Lab equipment} the rest of the company is running Windows in the offices.  They have an IT dept that maintains the Windows systems, and those guys cannot do a thing with Oracle.  They hate it and urge her to run Windows.  So she has to get a consultant from Calif, a specialist, to help with setting up new applications.  Using Windows to run those instruments would be a total joke.

I have been running Linux for 5 years and never once had system crash.  I have done maybe 70 installations, and have tried many systems.  Some better than others. I stick with Debian for the most part. I did fight with 2 versions of Ubuntu Studio for 3 weeks before finding another version that worked fine.  Some things are problematic.  I guess thats the cost of free development.

Yes Linux is a small market share, but things are slowly changing, and will continue to change.  I understand there are ALMOST no pro recording studios that use the Linux platform.  Right now.     http://http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb04/articles/mirrorimage.htm    Its still developing.  The average home studio doesn't necessisarily need to be running Pro Tools.  Ardour is fine. In fact its very good.  Also, I don't know of any studios that would use a Guitarport/Rifftracker either for that matter...LOL!  We are talking about home recording, and how those who may want to use Linux may be able to use  Line 6 products with their set up.

But to get back to my origional point.

I read a closed thread yesterday, where someone was ranting about the lack of Linux support from Line 6.

What bothered me was the response from the moderator.  The moderator came off sounding sarcastic and snide. Thats really not necessary.  That type of sarcasm does nothing to promote customer relations.  I assume it was due to a lack of understanding about Linux licensing.

Including open source code with your software product is like allowing the students to keep a copy of the test answers while they take the test. Their amp models would be made available for free and LEGAL download to everyone, and I cannot blame Line 6 for wanting to protect product.  Their sound is what they do best.

There are  Linux drivers for the Line 6 Pod.  But the problem is the software does not run on Linux.

My other point was to stop blaming Line 6 and just figure out something.  I am not using Line 6 anymore.  I would like to.  If the Tone Port UX8 is strictly a hardware device, there should be no problems using it with anything you want.  I haven't looked into it yet. If it requires software to control it, then I guess Linux users are S.O.L.

And if you are happy running an 8 year old Windows XP dinosaur, then keep on keeping on.