I like windows 7; but my husband is a die hard Linux user. It all depends on what you want to do. I ran Linux as my primary O/S for about a year, and then went back to Windows. And with Windows 7, I don't think I'll be going back to Linux anytime soon. But that's me - there are people around who would rather be shot in the foot (or other more painful places) that go back to Windows, and again, it all depends on what you need to do with your computer. Try Windows 7, if you don't like it you can install whatever variation of Linux you please on the new machine