Number 3 is the barrier for me, apart from the hassle of changing from Windows, and getting new software. Having to remember commands, instead of just clicking a button to get something working, seems like a backwards step to me.
I'm never going to convince any of you of the power of the command line since you do not need todo that kind of computing but i'll argue that with the modern versions of linux you hardly ever need to use the command line. Most things are graphical and simple. The occasional thing needs to be done on the command line but this is no different to having to open up notepad and edit some setting in windows - or having to install some driver with a cd (but in a different manner). Oh and just because the command line looks old doesn't mean it isn't fantastic - all the programs you run just run the command line stuff you just never see it (which I can see is an advantage).
MythTV doesn't have a reliable UK compatible epg as far as I know.
I think you are right there - though the MythTV wiki says:
EIT (EPG) data is available in various forms in the UK. For Freeview/DVB-T and FreeSat/DVB-S services 7 days of data are provided. For Virgin Media, EPG is provided per channel for 3-4 days, and further 7 day listings are available on a channel marked only as "Home EPG", possibly for Virgin's own DVR solution "V+". Sky only broadcasts Now/Next information with advanced listings available via the OpenTV system. MythTV does not seem to pick up correct channel assignments for every channel on Freeview/FreeSat from broadcsted data, i.e. via a channel scan. There is a simple database change that can be completed to update the channels quickly as using the channel editor is very slow to make many changes. UK-DVB-Channels
See here:http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/UK_Television with the fix here:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/UK_Channel_AssignmentsTell me my knowledge is out of date and I'll gladly consider Linux more seriously - I loathe Microsoft Vista!
I personally feel it is! Then again I would have told you that a few years back. Recently however, Ubuntu 9 came out and that is very very good and will probably not need for you to go to the command line (though your video card possibly will).
Windows-based programs are simply... better!
That's the curse of someone who hasn't been given the chance to use a good linux system (i.e. because they don't come pre-installed and you are going into a sea of unknown with linux you don't know what it could be like) - trust me no one I work with thinks windows-based programs (maybe with the exception of a few adobe products) are better - we write our own programs todo sophisticated numerical analysis - which if we ran on windows would be slowed down by all the crap on there.