I’ve written pretty often in the last year about Windows 7. That’s not necessarily because I feel it’s the best answer out there for everyone but because I pretty much need to use it and previous versions frequently enough to be able to offer help to users and because I have one application (yes one) that both has no suitable replacement in a ‘nix OS and only almost runs w/o a hitch using WINE under a ‘nix OS. Oh, and Windows Media Center beats the socks off any ‘nix offering in the category for tuning TV.
That said (that I need to use Windows for my own reasons), I really prefer either Linux Mint 10 or PC-BSD 8.1, the two slickest, most complete ‘nix OSes that don’t come with an Apple Tax and Apple Straitjacket attached. For most folks, Linux Mint 10 would be all they’d need in an operating system, since most folks use their computers for
- web surfing
- watching and listening to various media
- generating graphic/video files
- “office” type use (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, datasbases, etc.
For such uses, the OS is pretty much immaterial, as applications abound in any computing environment to handle these needs, and in Mint, as with most Linux distros, all those needs can be filled with free software. Driver concerns? Not with Mint 10, as far as I’ve seen. Interoperability with other OSes on a network? No more difficult than a mixed Windows environment, and easier than many mixed Windows/Mac networking environments I’ve seen. Security? Although I install anti-malware on ‘nix machines, I’ve yet to uncover any live issues, and the boxes–including “Mintyboxes”–have always gotten “perfect ‘TruStealth’ ratings” by Steve Gibson’s Shields Up! with the default firewalls enabled.
I like using my “Mintyboxes” and could only wish my one essential Windows app ran perfectly in ‘nix environments using WINE. If that were the case, I’d be back to running all my Windows machines as VM clients in ‘nix hosts. Maybe someday.