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Using the Ubuntu GNOME variant of Ubuntu, nearly always at the alpha/beta release (Vivid right now). The simplest advantages are that it is free, loads of software, ability to customize basically anything you'd like to, same desktop OS as the dominant web server OS. At work, I use Ubuntu with an Xfce shell -- a wee bit faster, and the taskbar is more convenient on a multimonitor setup. Unfortunately, I end up running Windows in a VM for Outlook (the Exchange connectors I have used ended up being kludgy and more annoying than just using Outlook, and webmail isn't good enough) and Zoom/GoToMeeting/join.me -- no one wants to write a desktop client for these services, and I end up being in enough meetings that I need a Windows VM for it. If I have to join those meetings at home, I use the Android clients, which work fine, but are too annoying in work situations where I might need to present something on my computer. A couple of months ago, I actually tried an installation of Mavericks on my laptop, and I wiped that off pretty quickly, after a day or two -- the apps were nice, but I missed basic apps that I was used to in Linux, I wasn't able to do basic things like moving/resizing windows with a hotkey + mouse... and I realized that Linux was now "good enough". Coming from someone who was a die-hard Mac user from the Classic Mac OS days, and where "good enough" was an insult to Windows, for me to say that Linux was now not just good enough, but more comfortable than Mac OS is pretty high praise. A fully supported, free copy of Mac OS X with some of the niceties I mentioned above, plus a deeper free software stack of applications that worked as seamlessly as they do in Linux (no separate X11 process, good theming) could attract me back -- unsure if I would switch over, but it would be far more attractive. I used Windows at work for about two years at my current job without too much complaining, so it's doable, but not as fun as running Linux on my home machine. |