Last week I ordered a nice Core i5 system from Lenovo and I plan to install Ubuntu 10.04 on it. I am running it now in Virtual Box and I’m quite impressed with it - this is the first Linux I’ve seen that can actually compete with Windows and OS X in terms of useability and appearance. I am switching to Linux because even though Apple makes a nice OS, their corporate culture sickens me. Secrecy, closed source, and now the impending death of OS X in favor of the iOS with an App Store that will only sell Apple approved software. I dont want Steve Jobs controlling what goes on my computer, and Ubuntu 10.04 is a great alternative for home use. For business, its Windows 7 all the way, however.
I'm running Ubuntu 10 under VMWare Fusion on a Mac, so I get a direct comparison of the usability of the two. Linux still has quite a ways to go to get up to Mac UI standards. Given that Canonical recently started a concerted effort to make the UI better and more cohesive, and seeing what affect that had on 10, they might actually get close with the next version.