I tried Ubuntu a couple of distros ago, used Slackware for a while before that, even tried Mandrake, Puppy and Suse. Having said that, I use and prefer 64-bit Vista. It’s been absolutely flawless for the year or so I’ve had my laptop—flawless. Everything just works. I really think all the Vista hate was from early adopters loading it on machines not up to spec. It has literally been problem free for me. Better than XP or 98 were by a mile. But if you’re broke or bored it’s pretty hard to beat linux. Ubuntu was the most user friendly linux distro I’ve tried, Puppy was the best for an older machine. I’d go Linux before Mac, given how much Apple charges for what you get.
“I really think all the Vista hate was from early adopters loading it on machines not up to spec.”
Definitely not!
In my experience, the only modern OS that was easier to install than Ubuntu in a VM was the OS X Leopard upgrade.
I run Windows Vista 64-bit home premium. I like it. I have experienced no issues with it. Everything runs, runs well, and runs fast. I kept debating the switch from XP, but our old computer was on its last legs, and the deal was too good to pass up. Now all I need is a faster network connection.