I’m no advocate for Microsoft, but I recognise the practicalities for, let’s say, power users to be compatible with their peers inside and outside the organisation.

People who mostly read and do little creating or who are in a closed community can use whatever they like, because they’re all the same.

I’ve had Windows, Macintosh and Linux machines. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

There’s one application in particular I’d prefer not to do without and that runs on Windows. My colleagues all use Microsoft Office and real two-way compatibility is desirable. And since the really clever stuff is done with VB and other macros, I fear I’m stuck. Unless I get a dual boot Mac.

When I was at Lotusphere last week, I took my Linux netbook and used the web for most things – email etc. If I got files from my colleagues, they worked well enough. But one of the IBM/Lotus online services just didn’t render properly in Firefox. This wasn’t a size issue – it was connected to on screen buttons. I was too busy to figure out what the problem was.

So, back to the beginning. The right route for anyone depends on their personal circumstances and needs.

As it happens I’ve run Ubuntu on my laptop for the last 9 months. Here’s what I wrote shortly after installation: http://tinyurl.com/59gvps