From the Source's Mouth

A complaint I've made once or twice, Linux is getting bloated has now been confirmed from the source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10358024-16.html

Linus Torvald's says so too. (At least as reported by CNet. I tried to find the original quote. Probably only available through Conference proceedings.)

One of the biggest advantages of Linux is that you don't get trapped into one distro or version as with Windows. If you want a smaller footprint OS, you can find a Linux version that's a LOT smaller than Windows.