The thing that is interesting to me in Linux is some of the 'outside the box' thinking going on.
The (fairly new) idea of using the network port for soundcards is pretty cool, extreme fast transfer speeds over long distances.

However, for boot times, a well set up Win machine will match and even beat those boot times mentioned above.
My XP2 system boots in 48 seconds, and 4 of those are while the BIOS window sits. I could shorten that, but I like access sometimes to look at things. On that machine I am talking about full boot; hard drive light stops flashing and all processes loaded (26 of them is all it has).

Using the clock on the XP machine to time the Win7 machine; It is booted and ready in 44 seconds, but I am sure it is still working behind the scenes at that point. I can open programs right away though at that point.

I don't worry about shutdown times, as once you hit the shutdown button you are free to leave, so I don't care about that!
I built a triple boot machine last winter, and when XP has a fresh install it was just as fast to boot as Knoppix and Fedora.. I've only tried Ubuntu and Debian from boot CD's so I can't comment on those. I will say I just didn't like working in Rosegarden or Ubuntu Studio after using PT and Realband. Just not intuitive for me personally.

You definately got me on the software price! Free is nice, but I wouldn't want to try to build a database in OpenOffice - the Writer works fine but the rest of that suite is severely lacking.
BTW OpenOffice, Firefox, Opera, etc. are all free for Windows users also .. so maybe the free bit isn't so enticing, since the OS usually comes with the system when you buy it. If you build your own, it can be a big expense though.

No problems - its all good.
I'm glad Linux is there and so many keep working with it. More every day.

I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!