USABILITY for Windows vs. Linux

Yesterday my wife insisted that I am printing some of her documents on our HP DeskJet 5051 for her. PowerPoint and an Excel spreadsheet. Of course it was almost midnight, as she just figured this out ... 

WINDOWS XP Printer Configuration: 

So I took her private notebook - as in not to worry about her company notebook - which has Windows XP, Office 2007 latest and greatest installed. We did not turn it on for a few weeks now, as I bought her a MacBook Air (ultra cool for showing off at a Starbucks). 

Turned it on and then? The anti virus software annoyed me and said it can not start without registering ... The Firewall Software did not know a few applications installed for the last year or so, too. So I took care of that.

Then we never printed on this Laptop, since a I set it up a few month ago. So I thought let's put in the printer and see what happens. Great: It says I found HP DeskJet 5051! Due to clicking away the antivirus and firewall stuff, I clicked this away too. Somehow it did not come back again. 

Ok. We know how to deal with that: Control Panel - Add new Hardware. Window Opens - Do you want to search for this in the Internet? Oh, yes of course! Great. About 60 seconds later: We can't find HP... drivers, do YOU know where these are?

Ok. I can also chose the model myself! So I went to the manual selection. First it asked what type of device this is (Scanner, Printer, Monitor, etc.) - Ok Printer.

Then Manufacturer - well, we know that: HP!!! Ok I select HP. Then the Printer name! Ok only older deskjets (and that one is 2 years old). Cancel.

Web Site - HP.com - Download Driver. Its an EXE. I click on it and ? Its an .EXE Zip Archive not an auto - installer. Ok. Back to adding hardware, "Have A Disk" select location, install - are you sure? - and confirm a few times and no, no test page. Done. 

LINUX - UBUNTU 7.10 

In between I had Linux installed on the very same HP Laptop. In effect the Ubuntu Live Disk 7.10 installed without any issues on the HP ZT3000 Laptop (approx 3.5 years old). The reason I installed is to try out a few things on my own and also to have my wife test it out. In effect I asked her ahead of times, whether she could do me a favor and try out Linux for a few weeks and tell me her experience.

As it happened I had to printer something on the same HP printer late last year. So I booted, started doing some Internet stuff, open the document in open office. While editing I somehow managed to plug in the Printer USB cable and keep editing ...

I thought it will be some work to get drivers and all the stuff going on Linux before I can print - generally I trust the OS, but not with things I didn't try first. 
Anyway, after I plugged in the USB Cable a notification window opened (not to click, just to inform!), saying: " I found a HP DESKJEST 5051. I installed the printer with the correct driver for you - just in case you might want to use, if not you can uninstall it in the printer queue later." 

Linux 1 - Windows XP 0 
Long story - short conclusion. Local Printer configuration - Easy for Linux, not as usable (albeit not difficult) for Windows. But why can we not have that with Windows, too? May be in an "Easy User Setup" vs the "DIY Mode."

At home we are having two Macs, my Linux company laptop, an Intel PC and that Laptopl with Windows XP, but I love the Mac and I am good on Linux and Windows. I think commercial products need to increase the focus on " value add " and need to clearly be better then free stuff. Apple is very focused on doing that. May be not all other companies are - in different software categories. I think IT is changing. People don't want to upgrade for the upgrade sake, but just either get free software and know they may encounter some issues or they are buy software and expect better services and products. 
By the way: My wife opted for Windows back on her Laptop - that's what she knows, while she could use the Linux software well. However, she loves the Mac after she tried mine and happily went for the Apple notebook I bought for her.