Like death, faxes and temperamental printers, Windows rarely inspires adulation. I think it's OK. Sure, it acts as a magnet for every virus whizzing through cyberspace. And finding files in its domain can feel like searching for UFOs on a cloudy night.
Worse, this operating system still sometimes requires Run commands that are daunting to users, who are spoon-fed on icons and unacquainted even with the plain face of DOS. But at least Windows looks pretty and makes few demands on the brain in this hi-tech, high-stress world.
Linux, the brainchild of Finnish wizard Linus Torvalds and which has been with us for more than a decade, appears different. Its roots lie in Unix, an operating system with a tendency to arouse fear and scorn.
'Unix is user-friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are,' critics say. 'Unix is the only virus with a command-interface,' they snipe. 'The scariest thing about Jurassic Park was that the control systems were Unix,' they hiss.
Despite its appalling public image, Unix is not quite as arcane and severe as it seems. Well, maybe it is, but it does have one undeniable virtue: solidity. As Apple Computer's OSX, which also relies on the pariah, underlines, Unix makes a great base on which to build.
Linux rarely crashes. Better yet, it goes like a train. To ensure it attracted some passengers, in 2001 Linux was relaunched as Lindows, rather cheekily. Does the name sound familiar?
In the time it takes to say 'strangulate', a certain software company announced that the name constituted infringement of copyright. To be fair, without swapping the L for a W, the resemblance could hardly have been stronger. That said, nobody has sued the French manufacturer of a soft drink called Mecca Cola.