A couple of days ago I bought a “Logitech Quickcam Deluxe for Laptops”. Last night I plugged it into my Ubuntu Gutsy laptop. It worked straight away. I installed the Skype beta – it found the camera. So I had fun making a video call to Hannah in Melbourne, wandering around the house with the wireless lappy. And it all Just Works.

I became so accustomed over the years to every new device needing hours of twiddling with Linux that even though that’s rarely necessary now, it still surprises and pleases me.