Hans : Yup, that exactly how I feel about it too. There's nothing wrong with a company making money, but it has to be in an honest way.
I hate monopoly's, nothing good can come out of them. And put it any way you like it : Microsoft IS a quasi monopoly for desktop pc's. (anybody ever tried to get a different OS installed when they buy a new computer? Good luck!).

OTOH, everybody is whining about Microsoft, but it's mainly because of US, the comsumers, that they are still where they are. Because we KEEP on buying their stuff and accept (willingly or not) their every whim.
Well, not me anymore. I've had it. I'm trying something new (for me anyway) now.

Kimbotha : I don't have any friends that are already using Linux. In fact, some said to me : "I'll let you struggle with it for a while and once you get the hang of it, I'll try it too." .
I can't really blame them, somebody had to be the fist. Too bad it's me.

Oh well, I think I'll go to the shops later on this week and have a look at the different distros available. I'll make my choice then.

Thanks all for your help.