Fred . wrote:
What is the state of audio in Linux? How does it compare against other operating systems?
Is the Linux audio functionality good or bad? What could be better? What is planned for the future?
Rather open ended questions! Is there a reason why you are asking or just curious?
It depends what you are looking for really (desktop, pro etc.) but Linux audio is arguably a bit of a mess with lots of APIs and abstractions layers/libraries and a lack of a single common, agreed structure.
On the desktop, most distributions and people are pinning their hopes on PulseAudio.
I'd advise you look at the following presentation: http://foss.in/2007/register/speakers/talkdetailspub.php?talkid=353
This is by the PulseAudio author Lennart Pottering and has a small section on the state of linux audio and what PulseAudio is trying to do to consolidate this work and provide a common platform to move forward in the desktop space.
HTHs
Col