Can you use Windows Office, Quicken, Adobe Photoshop, Palm Desktop software, browse the Internet, .. and other commonly used software on Linux-based machines (for example, my wife takes college courses part time and must use Power Point)? And of course, I presume you can browse the Internet using Linux, download, etc.?I'm with you as far as not know about Linux is concerned. I've been able to run a Mac quite happily with no sense that I'm "missing" crucial interaction with Windows apps. Apple is even starting to come out with some apps that are taking one the MS Office environment, without the bloat.
I have been an Mac hater from early on. I didn't like their proprietary hardware. I didn't like the fact that they lured people in with "ease of use", only to hit them with either "we don't offer that software" or "we have that software, but it cost twice as much as similar DOS/Windows software." To make matters worse, the hardware was expensive for what it was.
Windows won me over with cheap, plentiful hardware, good business apps, and cool games. Now that Apple is taking away the hardware objections, OpenOffice works on everything, and my game machines handle 90% of the gaming I do, why should I continue to put up with Microsoft's crap?