Linux Needs to Master Hardware to Beat Windows

I knew very little about free software when I left Microsoft. I think any of my fellow former employees who bothered to learn what all I did would conclude that free software is superior, and that its biggest challenges are ignorance and a slight lack of execution. I say “slight” because the free software army is already an army of millions.
It is why I have written a book that talks about things like why it is cheaper to write drivers for Linux, but it also documents the biggest reasons for why it hasn't succeeded on the desktop yet. And the biggest challenge right now for Linux on the PC is hardware. In principle, none of your software can work until all of your hardware works.
PC Hardware
We love Linux, and we're doing our best to support the Linux community. we see the Linux desktop as a customer-driven activity. If customers want it, well, Dell will give it to them. —Michael Dell
Michael Dell's quote demonstrates that he doesn't consider the situation where people aren't running Linux on his hardware because it doesn't work! I have a Dell Vostro laptop that doesn't have a Linux driver for wireless Internet. If I can't take the computer to a coffee shop and surf the web, it is useless. I've thought about putting a bullet through the laptop and mailing it back. Even laptops by Dell that ship with Linux still contain proprietary drivers, drivers that aren't in the kernel, and so forth so it seems clear that Dell management doesn't understand Linux yet. Dell also inexplicably has 30 models of laptops, each with 30 options, so it might just be a general case of corporate cranial-rectal inversion.
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Linux hardware compatibility list? Do we still need it in 2010?
No