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Linux On Your Mind

It's always informative to look at our most heavily trafficked stories to see what topics you're most interested in. No, it's not a scientific survey, but it certainly provides pretty powerful anecdotal evidence of what technologists are currently buzzing about. And judging from our numbers, you're rather obsessed with Linux--Ubuntu Linux, to be precise.

A case in point: our feature-by-feature comparison of Ubuntu versus Vista has been among our top five stories for more than a month now--a fact that I must admit surprised me. Granted, it's a terrific piece: Our reviewer, Serdar Yegulalp, performs an exhaustive analysis of the two desktop operating systems, ultimately offering his opinion that Ubuntu works best at handling ordinary day-to-day applications that don't require a particular operating system to work well, whereas Vista is more polished, and contains a number of convenient features that most of us can't live without. In short, although getting close, Ubuntu doesn't yet pass what Serdar calls "the Granny test," of being easy enough to use to pass muster with the general population.

Yet apparently people are waiting anxiously for that moment when Granny will be able to boot up Linux and start blogging, as evidenced by the fact that Dell's announcement of Linux desktops and a notebook is currently our No. 1 story. Bolster that with an analysis by the University of Massachusetts that shows Ubuntu is actually cheaper than Vista--contradicting earlier reports--and you begin to understand why people are seeking out Linux stories.

What do you think? Are you one of the ones clicking through to our Linux stories? If so, why? Do you currently have Linux installed? Are you contemplating it? Let us know by responding to the InformationWeek blog.

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