This is a great article, and I do agree with all aspects except for the part about games. I actually enjoy the games that are available on my Linux machine much better than the ones on my Windows PC. Of course, I am not referring to the high-definition action games, but the card games, puzzles, and simple action games. There are many games I enjoy on my Linux box for which I cannot even find a Windows equivalent. Nowadays, most of the people I know who enjoy the high-definition action games prefer the gaming consoles like the X-Box, PlayStation or Wi. These consoles are considerably cheaper and easier to use than high-end gaming PCs, so I think that the lack of action games for other operation systems is no longer an issue. »

Another great alternative to rich internet applications is also one that has been around for a while, which is XUL, supported by all gecko-based browsers (Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, etc). This has several built-in tags for some really powerful windows controls (like tabs, trees, and grids) and several methods available for simultaneous communication with the server including Ajax, remote RDF, SOAP, and XPCOM. I guess that the reason that this has not really caught on is lack of good development tools and comprehensive documentation. »