Originally posted by Loigan
The catch is that it (Linux) is not compatible with 90% of the software on the market.
I disagree on the percentage. So much these days either works in WINE, or was written cross-platform in the first place. Yes, it's not compatible with a lot of software. Windows is also not compatible with a lot of software. (A lot of old DOS programs have to be run inside DOSBox - which is a cross-platform DOS emulator, so you can run your programs just as well under Linux as under Windows.)

The catch is that it will sometimes not properly read formatting and other adjustments from files created in MS Word '03 and '07
No, you misunderstand. I didn't say "program for reading MS Word files". I said "office suite". The fact that Open Office does a mostly good job of reading the opposition's file format is just gravy.

Most video players and compilers are free, I am very fond of 'Eclipse'.
Absolutely. Eclipse (if it's the same one I'm thinking of) is a great tool for writing Java code for smart phones, but it's not the only free compiler around. There was a time when lots of companies sold language compilers for good money... now, I think Microsoft and Adobe are the only companies that try to make big money out of that sort of thing, and the competition is pretty stiff. As to video players - don't be deceived by the fact that Windows Media Player came with your Windows installation. It's not free; part of the money MS collect on their OS goes to the media player.

The free AV softwares are pretty useless, if you insist on using a free one you are better off not using one at all and saving the system resources.
Well, that is a definite possibility. I myself do not use any AV software, relying on my innate sense of "That is not something I want to download" as primary protection. But there are many MANY people in the world who do not understand computers well enough to know this sort of thing, and for them, AV is an easy marketing tool ("Buy our product and BE SAFE!"), relying on a bit of FUD about how easy it is to cop a virus that melts your hard drive. The fact is, viruses aren't the biggest threat these days - you're in much more danger from random port-scans finding open, and vulnerable, services, so a firewall (hardware for preference) will protect you from a lot more than AV software will.