Shift workers suffer higher rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastric problems, mental health problems and substance abuse problems. After 5-10 years the amount of cortisol you need to produce to work shifts destroys you physically and mentally, no matter how well you think your are coping with it.

Work it while you need the money and experience then get a job with reasonable hours.

Unfamiliar software and hardware are just one reason.

2. The main reason is there is no economic reason to install Linux. The cost of the OS and software are only a small fraction of the price and it's not worth the cost of having different models with another OS. Linux users will just install their favourite version anyway.

3. There is no Linux desktop, there are hundreds of them.

4. There is no performance gain. By the time you run Linux, X, KDE and GNOME and Open Office etc., XP with Chrome is faster.

Note there is an advantage over Vista, which is why Microsoft kept and discounted XP for netbooks. You can't claim Microsoft are dumping and old OS when the competition is free.

When Linux is useful is running a cut down system on low power devices, especially once XP is gone.