For us home office/wireless office/on-the-road office it is important that each of us has enough technical know-how to keep one's laptop/home computer working. If you are running a Windows operating system, whether it be Windows 2000, Windows ME, XP, or even Vista, you need to keep the operating system running and also to add and delete software as you need.

"What is the True Cost of Windows?" is an article that you should read, as it provides a rather in-depth explanation as to what real expenses you are going to have in operating a Windows system as opposed to a linux system (like Ubuntu for example).

AND it is not only the real costs that we are up against in running Windows, but also the potential down-time when something does actually go wrong. For example, should you accidentally acquire a virus through downloading and installing software. Sometimes acquiring a virus can be so simple, even with software from a reputable source.

ON THE OTHER HAND, the author of the article explains how that in ten years of running Linux derivative operating systems he has not had a single virus, or other unwanted file.

READ the article, it is highly informative and may change you mind on whether your next operating system is going to be a Microsoft product or a Linux distribution.