Elementary OS is a Linux desktop distribution that's being primed as a ?fast and open replacement for Windows and OS X.?

It's safe to say that that's the goal of every Linux distribution. Some distributions have, to a large extent, succeeded, while some are partially or completely misguided. Elementary OS, even though it's still just at version 0.3, belongs to the first group.

Some of the design decisions make it slightly painful to use, but as a unit, the distribution is moving in the right direction. Will it ever get to the point where it replaces Windows and OS X for all users? No, because there'll always be those that love Windows and Mac OS X no matter what. And there are still applications that have no real alternatives in Linux.