Personally I really like linux... you can make it exactly how YOU want it to be. if you install every little thing, then like windows, it can be pretty slow... but if you install only what you need and do a few tweaks here and there, then linux (of whatever flavour you choose) will be damn fast.
It's an OS you'll either love or hate, a lot of people hate it because they have gotten so used to having their hand held by microsoft every time they go to the toilet
. I suspect that Microsoft may realease a "go to the toilet wizard" soon LOL.
if you loved the Amiga OS, you'll love linux... You get your hands dirty and you can bang the hardware any way you like. If you don't like how something works, you have the sourcecode available to change it to how YOU like it.
Linux is not for everyone... it sure as hell ain't a gaming os... if you have an ATi GFX card, you may as well not bother at all, as the driver support is absolutely shit! Nvidia on the other hand do have EXCELLENT support for their cards.
My advice for anyone with an old obsolete PC kicking around is to install linux on it and have a play. It is a lot easier to work with linux if you can access the net via windows/another machine and work with a few tutorials on how to make it better, than to just install and be stuck, not knowing how to do anything and trying to work out how to read the manual with no idea of the dos/cli commands
Linux has a steep learning curve, but when you finally learn how to get it working properly, the feeling of satisfaction is very rewarding
. I have 5 PC's here... 4 with linux on them of various flavours and my 64bit machine that dual boots windows and linux. I've had a lot of fun learning how to setup mail/web/IRC servers and stuff... networking via samba to windows machines etc. making a firewall/router from an Xbox which protects my whole network. I guess what I am trying to say is linux lets you think OUTSIDE of the box
Ultimately, my advice is to use what you feel comfortable with. both OS's have their pro's and cons. there is nothing to stop you using both though
