The Zune I can understand, but I have a hard time believing the others. My guess is that the devices weren't automatically configured to your equipment and you didn't know how to find them, or the utilities to configure them.
That's fine. Linux is not Windows, and it doesn't behave in the same way.
I own a Laptop that is not mainstream, but Linux runs on it just fine--including my wireless card, printer, bluetooth, and mp3 player (Not Zune, though).
There are drivers for those things that you mentioned.
You're fortunate. This isn't true for everyone. I have an Epson printer and none of the Epson drivers available provide support for it (it's a new printer). Nor does Epson provide drivers for use under Linux.
Frankly, this is one area where Linux is deficient (along with available mainstream software titles). Eventually it may catch up, but with all the peripherals already out there, and new ones coming online daily, it's a tough nut to crack.
No, there aren’t. I contacted the manufacturers and was told the models she had were not supported in Linux.
I have a problem with Bluetooh, a IOGear USB dongle. I’m running up to date Bluez, but the problem is with the dongle; the chipset is “Broadcom”, who are notorious for not even releasing the documentation for the *Nix guys to write a driver for, forcing reverse engineering to get a workable driver. If they had listed the chipset vendor on the box (it was a spur of the moment purchase), I would not have bought it.