[GeronL]

Even if they used GNOME or let me dump the sidebar, it’s still a great Linux distro. If I had some better hardware I would still want Ubuntu, even if I added a Windows partition for playing games.

[dayglored]

FWIW, unless I need the absolute most performance, I've been running Windows in VMs almost exclusively. So much easier to recover from a scrogged install, broken registry, or other problems that might take more than 15 minutes to fix, when all you have to do is switch to the backup copy of the VM (I snapshot it about once a week, and before any risky activities).

That said, I have Win7 installed in a BootCamp partition on my Mac and it kicks a$$ running directly on the hardware. And zero compatibility issues with offbeat hardware due to virtualization. If I was a gamer I'd use the on-the-metal Windows install more I guess.

As it is, I spend 90% of my time in Linux at work, and 90% on a Mac at home; the rest in Windows when required. It'll be a fine day when games run as well on Linux as they do on Windows.