I'm a Microsoft apologist.

Please don't hit me.

I find I have a lot to apologise for.

Still, Linux is miles away from being a consumer OS. For proof, just look at the proportion of calls for help we get here about Linux. It doesn't even begin to match up with the number of hosts running Linux.

♩♪♬ Every computer crashes, ♪♬ 'cos every OS sucks! ♪♬♩

Do you mean sagacious?

Let me talk to you about usability. It's not a simple subject, and the best results are gained by putting lots of "average people" (this will include a fair number of total morons and technophobes) in a room with the software, and studying them while they use it.

It's not about verbosity - some really terrible designs use far too many words to ask a simple question like "Are you okay with that?". Conversely, some UIs simply don't supply enough information.

Anyway, I should hold my horses for a moment: I'm not trying to give a lesson on usability. What I'm trying to say is, some software (especially but not only free software) fails badly in the usability stakes.

...

You see, I come from a time in the nineteen hundred and seventies
when computers where used for two things
to either go to the moon, or play Pong
and nothing in between, you see.
And you didn't need a fancy operating system to play Pong
and the men who went to the moon (God bless 'em)
did it with no mouse,
and a plain text only black and white screen,
and thirty-two kilobytes of RAM.
But then round about the late seventies,
home computers started to do a little bit more than play pong.
Very little more.
Why, computers started to play games,
and balance cheque books.
Why, you could play Zaxxon on your Apple II, or write a book,
all with a computer that had thirty-two kilobytes of RAM.
It was enough to go to the moon;
it was enough for you.
It was a golden time.
A time before windows.
A time before mouses.
A time before the Internet and bloatware,
and a time before every OS sucked.

Well, way back in the olden times my computer worked for me.
I'd laugh and play all night and day on Zork I, II and III.
The Amiga, VIC-20 and the Sinclair 2, the TRS-80 and the Apple II,
they did what they where supposed to do.
It wasn't much, but it was enough.
But then Xerox made a prototype,
Steve Jobs came on the scene;
read of mice and menus, windows, icons, trash and a bitmapped screen.
Oh, Stevie said to Xerox, "Boys, turn your heads and cough"
and when no one was looking he ripped their interfaces off!
Stole every feature that he had seen,
put it in a cute box with a tiny little screen.
MacOS One ran that machine.
Only cost 5000 bucks.
But it was slow,
it was buggy,
so they wrote it again -
and now they're up to OS X.
They'll charge you for the beta, then charge you again.
But the Mac OS still sucks!

Every OS wastes your time,
from the desktop to the lap.
Everything since Apple DOS,
just a bunch of cr*p.
From Microsoft to Macintosh
to Lin-ly-lin-ly-nux.
Every computer crashes, 'cos every OS sucks.

Well then Microsoft jumped in the game,
copied Apples interface with an OS named
Windows 3.1 -
it was twice as lame,
but the stock price rose and rose.
Then Windows 95, then 98.
Man, Solitaire never ran so great,
and every single version came out late
but I guess thats the way it goes.
But that bloatware will crash and delete your work
and DME, man, none of them worked.
Bill Gates may be richer than Captain Kirk
but the Windows OS blows!
and sucks!
at the same time!
I'd trade it in, yeah right:
for what?
it's top of the line
from the CompuHut.
The fridge, stove and toaster,
never crash on me.
I should be able to get online
without a PhD.
My phone doesn't take a week to boot it,
my TV doesn't crash when I mute it.
I miss ASCII text and my floppy drive,
I wish VIC-20 was still alive.
It ain't the hardware man!
It's just that every OS sucks
and blows.

Now there's Lin-ux or Ly-nux
I don't know how you say it,
or how you install it, or use it or play it,
or where you download it or what programs run;
but Lin-ux or Ly-nux don't look like much fun.
However you say it,
it's getting great press.
Though how it survives is anyone's guess.
If you ask me it's a great big mess,
for elitist nerdy schmucks.
"It's free," they say
(if you can get it to run).
The geeks say, "Hey, that's half the fun!"
Yeah, but I've got a girlfriend, and things to get done.
The Linux OS sucks -
I'm sorry to say it but it does.

Every OS wastes your time,
from the desktop to the lap.
Everything since the abacus, just a bunch of cr*p.
From Microsoft to Macintosh,
to Lin-ly-lin-ly-nux.
Every computer crashes, 'cos every OS sucks!
Every computer crashes, 'cos every OS sucks!

These lyrics brought to you courtesy of Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie.

Yes, sagacious

Three Dead Trolls In a Baggie tell it like it is! And you've hit the nail on the head regarding usability. Linux definitely has a usability problem but that can be overcome if one has the time and the desire. I've been more than adequately rewarded by investing some of my time and effort in Linux so I've stuck with it. For others, raised on Big Macs and having no knowledge of steak, the rewards will not come fast enough or soon enough. They'll stick with the herd where moaning and groaning about their plight takes its rightful place alongside conversations about Survivor and the latest useless fad diet and their latest excuse for not getting out for exercise and a real weightloss program, followed by prayers to the messiah and speculation that Gates must be the messiah because he has all that money. Yes, the money rationalises all. Fat, juicy, slow moving prey for Bad Bill and his gang of bandits.

Oh, you poor thing... what you forgot to do is to sacrifice a live gryffin to the Elder Gods, while chanting "Hastur" three times and dancing the macarena backwards.

Seriously, a UFie tried this, got a similar error, tried again and had success. Wait while I double check...

hmmm. Not quite the same:

"Windows did not start correctly. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.

\windows\system32\winload.exe - could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt."

Wait for RC1. Better yet, wait for RC2.

They did provide a file signature for the download, right? How else can you be sure you've downloaded 3.5GB without error?