I dual-boot Ubuntu and Windows XP on a couple of older general-purpose computers, mainly for security reasons. It’s great for most applications, such as email & web browsing, and Libre Office gives very good compatibility with (most) popular Microsoft Office files. (I don’t play games, so that’s not even a consideration...)
There are a handful of music recording/production and video editing programs that I use, necessitating that I not entirely abandon Windows. Ironically, newer versions of some of these won’t run on XP, either. So I also have to have something running Win 7, 8 or 10.
I could try some of those XP programs in compatibility mode or in a VM, but I’m not sure about the performance hit I may take running in a VM.
I think Linux is a great choice for XP hangers-on who risk serious damage from the insecure nature of this now-abandoned OS, and have set-up machines for several of my friends to help protect them.
Amen. I've had good success with Ubuntu, but have run into a couple of machines on which it has repeatedly failed to install, and a Dell Latitude laptop that won't work with it's built-in wireless adapter. It does, however, work just fine with a USB wireless device.
Herein lies the advantage of running from a live CD/DVD and testing everything before committing to dual-booting or replacing your OS outright.