[entwisi]

you seem to be discussing something that in reality should have no bearing. The underlying OS should not 'taint' the user interface or its doing too much. Open Office looks and works exactly like Openoffice( and MS Office in all but a few buttons) on all platforms, similarly browsers, email clients, image editing software.

The whole point is that you can sit a "Windows" child at a Linux desktop and they will be just as productive. In fact I'd argue its us old fogeys who would be less likely to cope as adults are far less open to change than children