I'm currently lying in bed, using my (powernowd) laptop, my usb bluetooth headphones, and my usb laser mouse, as well as posting this comment over my wifi connection -- all of which worked without any linux voodoo whatsoever. The only thing that required anything custom was getting the ati mobile video card working (with 3d accelertion -- worked just fine out of the box), which required a grand total of 5 minutes and a how-to on wiki.ubuntu.com . Doing the same thing in Windows required a grand total of 4 different driver CDs, which installed 3 different system tray icons and god knows how many background processes. I'm not saying that Ubuntu is perfect, but it's getting there, and if something doesn't work out of the box, a quick search on the wiki or the forums makes it do so. And guess what? It might require a little reading. But I never claimed that your grandmother could install Ubuntu; I claimed that most people "in the know" who don't enjoy buttering their little cornholes will have switched to an operating system made by a company who's not completely out of touch with the real world.