Ubuntu/Linux - what's the big deal?

Additionally, there is the political issue of the free flow of information during this so-called "Information Age". Manipulating the information storage-and-retrieval system is uncomfortably close to manipulating the monetary system. A free marketplace need to be a level playing field where all individuals have an equal opportunity to accomplish work, and produce products, that have value to their fellow humans, as manifested by the fact so many people want to buy them. A free-market economy doesn't work well when a few mega-rich elitists can privately own and control society's entire information and barter structure, in and of itself, for private profit, to the detriment of everyone else.
In the long run, that is the logical reason behind the fact that copyright, trademark, and patents only last for a specific number of years. In the long run, nobody can "own" information, per se. E.g. nobody can "own" the fact that 1 + 1 = 2 any more than they can "own" the Pythagorean Theorem, or the binary math that makes computers run.
Long live Ubuntu, et al! It would be ironic indeed if some whiz kid used Ubuntu Linux to find the cure for cancer while Uncle Scrooge, er Bill Gates, was busy counting his billions.
(Yes, Gates fans, I know Bill gives quite a bit of his money away, so please don't use that fact as an excuse to ignore the main information-related issue. Just because Gates gives money away doesn't mean Vista is wonderful. Just read the letter to which Adam linked.)