I have to say, XP is the best (for me at least), Apple comes close only because it is easy to use, and has previously mentioned, it's good for basic multimedia stuff, Linux I do like....BUT it does sometimes annoy me when using it, but then again it saved all my files when my OS last crashed and died! and Vista? Well...vista can go where the sun don't shine! I personally cannot stand it, but I've found that it's really good for some people, so yea I'm not all that against it if some people find it better....just a matter of opinion I guess. The worst thing is that both my uncle and sister have Vista, I have XP, they aren't very good with computers....so I'm constantly being called up when either one has a problem and chances are the way I'd usually fix that problem won't work on their PCs! Gah!
Oh and XP Service Pack 3? Yea try and stay clear....everyone I know who put it on their comps have ended up with their PCs crashing....thus they re-install XP again and stay with SP2, if anyone actually has SP3 and has had it work fine, well....my hat goes off to you!