[Arkcon]

I just bought an OEM Version of Windows 2000 pro, based on the opinions of the people on this board. I'll install it, then maybe someday later I'll try Linux again.

Linux is excellent for the web. Mozilla is great, Opera is fun to play with. And you can use a variety of email programs. If your favorite web site only works with IE's ActiveX, you're out of luck. But I just see that as an exploit waiting to happen, so don't mind.

Mplayer comes with Linux, and Gnome and KDE provide graphic front ends. It will play my DVD's and Online video clips. There's no way to view stuff encoded with Microsoft's Digital Rights Management, AFAIK, but I hate that snooping codec and just don't keep videos that rely on it anyway.

SE4 runs under WinE, but it is a little slow. And it hangs sometimes. This is one area where lots of tweeking is needed, and I am a little disappointed.

But DirectX games won't work without a commercial package called Cedega. Some people claim its also needs lots of tweeking, and will slow down a game. I kinda don't care, buying a commercial package to layer over a free copy of Linux just to play a game seems wrong.

If SE5 has a native Linux Version (hey, I can dream, can't I?) then I may dump Microsoft brand OS's for good.