It is actually a very healthy and secure symbiosis this "a few *right* tools" on Windows and Internet, word processing etc. on Linux, because Windows works much better when there are just a few apps installed, and Linux is just fabulous for internet. This way we can also get used to Linux as an OS in general, so it'll be easier to switch completely when the time comes.
As for the services on W2k and WXP... well you have to really know them to disable them, it's tricky and depends heavily upon what you do on that particular comp, but if you only do music, you can safely disable heaps of them. On my "MusicXP"
, I have only 12 services running, 36 disabled and 20 on "manual" and I'm still using Internet on it just to visit KVR and Reaper forums which is definitely safe [ I have a router so it's very easy to connect, just plug the net card in and there ]. In general, I know which ones a 100% safe to disable, so I always do that on my client's computers. It really makes the comp more stable, even though the most important thing for stability are drivers. To make Windows really stable you usually have to experiment a lot, and by "stable" I mean a computer that works and works for weeks without a hiccup in a pro-environment. the important thing is - it's doable. Thank god . But every tiny thing from your choice of MBO, RAM, PSU VGA, CPU and the list goes on, is crucial because of the drivers, so over the time I've learned which drivers Windows likey and which driver Windows not-likey to make it all really stable . Well it's my job after all.And after all this, who needs Vista? New problems, new bugs, old story, everything all over again and you have to pay for that?!. Once you make yourself a stable system just leave it this way. For somebody, installing Vista is just a game, but for me - I see a zillion problems which cannot be solved overnight, rather "overyears" if not decades, after all it's a MS system... you just ask yourself - do I really need that/it [problems/Vista]? I mean it's only a brand new same old package which *can* make a big difference between crashes every few days or every few weeks. It depends on "where do you want to go today?"; to a "blue-screen land", or just work on your projects?
People in general think about OS too much, as if OS can do stuff for you. AFAIK no OS can do anything but just help you to work with the programs you like. OS's role is highly overrated, applications you use are the main thing.
And forget about flashy GUI's, it's fun for an hour or two, but you have to work with your OS much much longer and it has to be *stable*. Think about GUI as those windows sounds you can assign to mouse clicks and similar "actions", in time they become just a nuisance, actually, and you turn them off. You have to work - not play, and both Vista and XP look just like toys when installed with default settings. Hey, reality check! - toys are for children, not for professionals, right?
Cheers!
