There was a big lawsuit over this and now computer makers must give you a choice to opt out of windows pre install (and receive a discount).

And where have you been? Go get 8.2 Mandrake with KDE and tell me it doesn't work and look just like windows. You can even set up the "widgets" to look and feel just like a Mac, Windows, Custom, your choice all at a simple click of the mouse.

Get a new copy of Mandrake, firewall setup is a simple click in a control panel, so are a lot of other things. It's come a long way, you need to check out the latest versions before you make comments like this.