Wow, so like 7 years ago you didn't like linux (probably fedora?). Unless you were running a server or you loved spending a load of time getting your computer working, neither did anyone else. In terms of a desktop OS, it wasn't nearly as baked 7 years ago as it is today. Lots of room to grow still, but I certainly prefer it to windows XP for most things (I primarily do development). For a casual user its better as well (no need to worry about spyware/virii, and you can install tons of apps for free). The only reason to stick with running windows native is if you are a gamer or you need some app that doesn't run well in wine or a virtual machine. Otherwise I'd say the best of both worlds is to run linux with wine and virtualbox for those "other" apps.