Well then I guess the linux footprint is far smaller than teh windows footprint right?
Yep. You can have an installed size of under 2 gb for Win XP. Just make sure you don't need antivirus, antispyware, firewall, spreadsheet capability, chat, photo editing, audio editing, FTP, web editing software, and that you really, REALLY like Windows Write.
In other words, don't install all the stuff that is either already included or not necessary with the average Linux distro.
But, to it's credit, Microsoft Pinball is really fun.