I was reading some material for work and stumbled upon this which turned out to be a semi-decent read:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0374292795/ref=sib_dp_top_toc/104-0504079-8892722?ie=UTF8&p=S00D#reader-linkChapter 2, "Flattener #4" is really all that's pertaining to this discussion, though the book was good in general.
The principal logical fallacy that I notice in these discussions (open source vs closed source, windows vs linux, etc, whatever you want to call it) is one that seems to work both ways. For some reason, the Windows supporters seem to think that Linux users should want more market share. And for some reason, most Linux users think we should too, and so argue that we will somehow obtain that market share. I sincerely doubt a non-profit organization is going to dominate any market, especially since market domination (nor profit) is the objective of the organization. I also don't know why anyone cares if Linux gets the market share or not.
Personally, I've preferred Linux for years now. I couldn't care less what the rest of you are running, or how much you're paying for it. The way you guys push the market share thing it seems like I should go buy a Chevy Cavalier, because the majority of people use them, therefore they must be the best. That is a stupid premise for purchasing cars, and even so, cars are much less ambiguous in terms of personal use and application. A one OS/software foundation fits all idea is just a little bit far-fetched. You guys are indirectly implying that Windows must be better because the majority of people use it. We believe you that the majority of people do, stop trying to argue that. However, I definitely do not use my PC to the same ends as Ma and Pa 150 million AOL users, so it would be surprising to me if I used the same OS/software. I'm also not the least bit surprised that Windows is, in fact, "better" for Ma and Pa 150 million. It's not better for me though. Quite frankly, I think it sucks. Sort of like Chevy Cavaliers. Anyways...
Basically, if you touch on the policy vs mechanism aspect, Windows is always going to have problems as long as it tries to combine all of that functionality into one OS, then instill enough policy to keep Ma and Pa happy. I think either you're a family car, or you're a race car. Not a mini-van with 400hp. Note that many Linux distributors are worse than Windows for this.