Marza wrote: Usually the people who prefer Unix probably started on it. Same as the PC types and the Mac types.

I have to disagree here, at least for myself. Perhaps I'm the exception that proves the rule, but I'm one who started in the DOS/Windows world but immediately prefered Unix once I got a taste of it. I spent several years as a religious zealot once I got Linux installed stopped using Windows entirely.

More recently (and slightly more on-topic), I've come to the realization that more than one of you have mentioned, that the OS is just a tool, and different tools are better for different tasks. This is especially true now that I am severely limited in the development software I have at work (currently Win95). I keep both a Win2K box and a Linux box at home so I can try to keep up with the technology I need to do my job (the Windows side) and the technology I enjoy more (the Unix side).

My preferred tools overall, if I were making the decisions, would be Linux as the OS, with vi and emacs sharing editing duties (I do swing both ways there), MySQL for databases, Perl for coding, Apache for serving web, Lynx and Opera for browsing it, etc. But because I have to live in the real world, I try to be equally proficient in similar tools on the Windows side. ;)

As soon as I can hack a few more hours in the day, I'll have to try out Cygwin and the various GNU utilities for Windows...

-rattus, $.02 from the rat's nest of a brain