This is a link to a review of Ubuntu by Brian Boyko, a self-described power user who tries to test systems using real-world hardware. He's done the same thing for WinVista and Mac OS X. He seems quite objective and even-handed. I'm trying out Ubuntu myself. I installed it with wubi , which I found to be painless and smooth. That's not what Brian did, though; he's got dedicated hardware. So far I've found it to be a much smoother OS than WinXP, more responsive even through it's running on a separate hard drive. I haven't done a lot with it so far but will let you know how it goes. http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI5OCwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI =