Guess I’m finally going to have to dump Micro$oft. I’m a little short on research time - do you recommend Mac or Linux?
No recommendation from me. But your question will no doubt start a mini-computer war here. My suggestion? DUCK!! [grin]
Mac, unless you're into playing -with- the computer as much as -on- it. I love Linux too, but it does engender a more geeky mindset.
With either one, get VMware and you can also run Windows XP whenever you want to, for as long as you want to, without driver worries (because the hardware is virtualized, so no driver issues!)
Yes.
Seriously, I’ve got Linux on my desktop at work, and a Mac at home. They both work fine for almost everything you’d want except playing games, and when some webmaster has drunk too much MS cool-aid and makes his site only function properly with the Windows version of Explorer (the Kansas 511 road conditions site, for instance).
There are arguments either way, and while Linux now has some nice software bundles and decent GUI’s, it is still a little geeky. A Mac is probably easier.
Either way there are ways to run your old Windows software. I’ve been outside the MS world for so long I can’t comment on the relative virtues of Wine (for Linux) and Parallels (for Intel-chip Macs).