win98se is worth downgrading too. so far, i have not really been impressed by win xp.

as for the *nix geeks, i agree, linux and unix are cool and powerful and everything, but if you don't want to have the power and responsibility (misconfiguring firewalls, mail servers, etc can have drastic results) and also the steep 'learning curve' as terr had mentioned, then don't. also be patient if you choose to tread this path as there are some problems that will take days or weeks to solve by research alone.

regards,
mark.