Well, one of the methods I use to decide whether or not Linux is getting to a state of almost flawless beauty and usability is hardware compatibility - or more specifically, webcam and wireless compatibility.

I own a cheap, no brand webcam from ebay. Absolutely nothing amazing about it in any way, other than it costing me £4. Every Linux distro I've tried in the last few years has failed to accept it, and no amount of fiddling, faffing or poking could get it to work.

However, it now works just fine in Kubuntu 8.04!! Just plug it in, and voila! Ok, the image is a bit fuzzy and there is a bar at the bottom, but I am getting an image. That is all I ask for!

Woo!!!