This is primarily in response to
this. While I usually don't waste time explaining things to wannabe CEOs, I think that where there is some sound engineering background, there is still hope :)
So, the issues, one by one.
1. Browser compatibility is an evil. It is the result of monopolies and a great example of how marketing people can screw up interoperability for a few dollars more. What they don't realise is how it is going to hit them back. Anyway, coming to the point, there are standards for web pages and css and all that, with easy to use validators (w3c.org). Creators of websites should ensure that their code is correct and conforms to standards. It then works great on all browsers. So much for browser compatibility. As for OS compatibility, its totally up to the website creators whether they want to make all their features work on a particular OS. Gmail voice chat, for example does not work on Linux (though there are other programs that let you do that).
2. In general, multimedia works great on Ubuntu. There hasn't been a single file or disc that I could not play. If it is protected by some kind of encryption scheme (like some DRM DVDs), you just have to install libdvdcss or something and you are through. The reason why its disabled by default and not made very obvious is that in some highly developed countries, it is illegal to control how you use media that you buy, even for personal use. Also, DRM is dead anyway. Most content is now released DRM free. Linux, or for that matter, any free software will never support something like DRM or 'trusted' computing, because of differences in core philosophies. Free software is about empowering users, DRM and trusted computing is about crippling them.
I don't have an HDMI connector, so I have no experience with that. But it is reported to work out of the box.
Also, you seem to be mixing up accelerated graphics with multimedia. Compiz has nothing to do with multimedia.
3. On all computers I have used, I have downloaded skype and started using it. No problems anywhere with anything. Maybe you have a very recent configuration which is not supported or you may be using an older distribution which came into existence before your hardware did.
4. I use open office, my whole company uses open office, everyone in my family uses open office. It works, and works well. Secondly, use ODF as much as possible. It has much better interoperability with MS office. For publishing, I publish as PDF. For creating documents and presentations which only I am going to edit and publish, I use Latex.
5. Yes, the flash plugin is a resource hog. And this has been a problem for a while. As to whether anyone is fixing it, you have to ask Adobe. There is nothing there that the Ubuntu (or any other distribution) folks can do about it. For example, if Matlab has a problem, you can't point to Microsoft for not fixing it. If Adobe, released the source code of the plugin under open source, someone probably will fix it. There is a project (
gnash) that is trying to build a flash player from scratch.
