For those (like myself) who have tried Linux and decided it’s not quite ready for prime time, there is another option besides a Mac.
Many suppliers, including TigerDirect, are still offering Windows XP, both on machines and shrink-wrapped. Dell just announced that it will offer it on select machines in lieu of Vista. Other manufacturers will follow suit, I expect.
According to Micro$oft’s Support Lifecycle Pages the U.S. support for XP will, in practically all cases, extend to 4/14/2009 for mainstream support and 4/8/2014 for extended support.
This is ample time for the various Linux distros to finish getting their acts together, and anyone who is seriously contemplating Linux in its current forms should have no problem keeping XP running for a long time.
As some know, I’m not a major Micro$oft fan, but the fact is that, apart from a Mac, XP is the most stable OS that won’t kill a bunch of your favorite applications, and it’s well-tested and reasonably secure if you don’t use Internet Exploder (or if you keep IE scrupulously patched).
My own solution: XP Pro SP2 with Firefox and OpenOffice 2.0, and all Open Source peripherals, with Micro$oft utilities disabled whenever possible. By the time my 3.2 Pentium D is ready for the scrap heap, heaven only knows what will be available.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
[tags]linux, apple, mac, windows xp lifecycle[/tags]