I have run Linux for over 20ish years and many flavors...For the last 5 years I have not owned a Windoze computer and will never go back. There is nothing you cant do with Linux that you can with Windoze except run mainstream software i.e. games..solid edge..etc but there are alternatives to those. If you are just doing home computing and internet give it a shot....it has come a long way from the days of having to compile your own kernel and hoping your vid,sound, and modem would be old enough to have drivers....lol If you are trying to make money from opensource you need to rethink your business plan cause you are not going to. People run opensource software cause they like the freedom (as in free beer) to change it to suit their needs. With Windoze you have to purchase programs and licences to do anything that is more complicated than disk defrag....cd burning/editing software is free with Linux distros ...not Windoze. on top of the fact if you want to write programs it is much harder with the Redmond product than Linux..or Solaris or BSD for that mater. You can download from the software sources all the things you need to write a program...and the man pages to teach you how for free....try that with a Redmond product.