i use windows at home and unix/solaris/linux at work. and i keep at that. linux is best if you have a lot of analysis, coding, scripting, etc. windows is best for almost all other common tasks. linux is yet to grow a lot if it is targeting such a kind of usability.

even in our labs mac is replacing many of the solaris systems.

As for costs, a windows machine would, on average, cost you $650. Most Linux OS cost zilch but you would of course have costs for the desktop or laptop itself that you’d want to install Linux on. A mac would cost $1000 or more.

I don’t quite get the “freedom” part of it though…

Please also mention the freedom one gets with each OS (free as in “free speech” not “free beer”).