Learn from the mistakes of others

perhaps I ought to say somethng about my 'choice' of os on this pc. it is true that i am more than capable of using another os, however, as this is not my computer ... i am considering options for dual booting, and so forth. can't decise which glorious new linux distribution to try out. last time i had linux, slackware was the big boy on the block, and red hat was just beginning to get serious. haven't touched any serious code since then either. been tooo busy living in the land of 'i might be a lawyer one day when someone employs me' :(
i'm also hamstrung by the fact that whilst i am quite cross-platform competent, i have serious doubts about how well my uni, especially my sipervisors, would cope. besides, having a go at ms is good stress relief. after all, if this is the best we can hope for from domestic computers, we have nothing to fear from ai for quite some time to come. (stephenson, gibson, and co will have to wait a little longer to see the fruits of their labours :)