I want an new OS but I can't afford a hardware upgrade. Mac would be nice but they are still expensive for what I want and Vista will need some pretty serious hardware to get anything like the performance I get now from XP. I'm going to wait 12 months till quad-core and DDR3 are a lot cheaper, in the mean time I am going to set myself free from M$ Windows.

I've been a M$ user since DOS 3.3, my primary system has ALWAYS been a Microsoft machine of some description. I've decide to go to Linux full time on my primary home machine and free myself from Richmond's hold.

It will be a challenge - say what you like about Microsoft but their driver support is brilliant and these days everything just works. So my biggest hurdles to using Linux as a desktop as I see it:

• Drivers - Bluetooth, DVD-RW, External HDD's etc
  
• Printing & scanning - HP All in One
• Dual monitor - I can't live without my dual 19's
• DVD Rip/Burn - I've got a PVR I like to store my DVD's on for easy access
• iTunes/iPod - I'm not ripping my entire CD collection again
• Syncing to my Smartphone - I love having all my contacts at my fingertips
• Photo management - I use Picasa for all my photos
• CHM files - I have lots of free eBooks and cheat sheets in CHM format
• Video - I have converted a lot of my video to WMV to play through my Xbox360
• XBox support - File sharing use SSDP
  
• Contacts - I have over 300 contacts in Outlook

So why bother? After using a Mac now for 3 months, I realised I can do most things as easily or better with Windows and more often than not for free.