I started some Postgraduate work at a local University a few years ago, and discovered that most people in the Computer Science department no longer used Windows.  Some used Macs, and others used Linux.  Linux is a UNIX based system invented by Linus Torvalds. I was so surprised and impressed by the functionality and versatility of Linux, that I installed it with a dual boot facility on my computer at home.  In some ways it is more advanced than Windows: in particular, crashes are very rare, and seldom catastrophic.  The only drawback is that certain specialist software is still (at the moment) only available for Windows.  On the other hand, there are types of software available for Linux which you can't get for Windows - and much of it is free!  If you want a system with office functionality and stability, a Linux package is undoubtedly the most functional and cost-effective solution.
 
Actually, in priniple Linux is free - most major packages are downloadable for no fee.  The distributers make their money from cd/DVDs, manuals, and support.  However, you can get an operating system, manual, an impressive suite of software and support for rather less than the cost of Windows XP.  No wonder many computer retailers are still pretending that Linux doesn't exist!  Note, Linux can read your Windows partitions, but not the other way round in general.  This means that you can look at all the files the Windows OS tries to keep secret!  If you keep a backup copy of your windows partition, it is very simple to restore it from Linux just by copying the files - much easier than re-installing all the software!

There are various "flavours" of Linux.  As I had stopped using it, I ditched Windows completely in 2006.  In the past, I have used Suse 7.1-10.1  The screenshots below are from an old system.  For the last two years I have used PCLinuxOS   A new screenshot will be uploaded soon.

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