Let me start by saying that I hate Windows. The Microsoft product. I don’t hate Microsoft. I don’t hate Bill Gates, but I hate, hate, hate Windows. This is not a religious thing, either. I have had that operating system break my spirit more times than I care to think about (and I’ve been at it since… Windows 3.0?). Between the blue screens of death, weird distrustful activation schemes, arbitrary proprietary methodologies, and horrible security record, I just can’t stand the operating system itself. And I’m staring at two copies of Vista on my shelf that I can’t use because they suck. That’s about $600 sitting there. Sucking.

Having said that, I also know that I can’t run everything that I’d like to run in Linux. And as much as I love my MacBook, I don’t think I care to buy all my software over again for the Mac, thank you very much.

No, for better or worse, I’m a Linux guy. Note that I am NOT recommending that ANYONE in their right mind switch to Linux for their desktop. I have a propeller on my beanie the size of a helicopter blade. If you’re starting out and can afford it, go Mac. If you can’t afford that, go Windows 7. If you’re a total geek who sits in his (or her) underwear until three in the morning trying to get a cron job to be able to get a custom kernel to build so you can hook up your old radio-controlled light-switch-remote to your machine… Linux is for you. Now, go take a shower and go to bed. (continue reading…)