Linux wasn't really intended for mainstream desktop usage although there has been a push to try to get it there and with more work from hackers it could make it. The more people hacking out code for things such as drivers and apps the sooner it could make a serious challenge. I use it for programming. The OS comes with all the tools required to build almost anything.
The concept was/is that if you want to run your DVB card in it write the driver then publish your driver to the Linux community. It gets incorporated into a release and Linux steadily marches forward. Linux is where E-Commerce came from
