Windows XP? Ubuntu?

I've been a computer tech for a long time. I've worked on/in/with Windows 95, 98, 98SE, Millenium, XP (Home and Pro) and Vista. I even messed with a few Mac laptops. So when my hard drive started flaking out on my I decided it was time to reinstall. But hey why just reinstall when you can upgrade, right?
So off I go and buy a nice new shiny 500 gigabyte Sata II hard drive for my pc. And you know what? I'm not going to do a normal install, oh no I'm going to install Windows XP Professional and Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Linux) as a dual boot system! This is what I call a good Friday night (ok I did watch Doctor Who as well).
So why the blog post? Because I cannot believe the two unbelievably different experiences I had.

Windows XP Pro:

I've done this install ummm let's say several times, so I thought I knew what to expect, this time was different. Different how you ask? Well Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 isn't able to see an SATA drive during install, it just shoots through and tells you there's no drive present "hit a key to exit setup". Yea that's fun, there is a message in the beginning of the install which tells you to hit a certain key to install a third party drive controller. So after I rebooted and hit the correct key I was greeted by a screen prompting me to insert the drivers disk into my A: drive.... My A: drive? I don't have a floppy! I think this is my second or third Desktop that hasn't had a floppy! And I haven't seen a laptop that comes equiped with a floppy for years! So I sat there staring at the screen for a few minutes mumbling and cursing under my breath. I thought of putting the drivers on a CD, nope it wants a floppy, a usb thumb drive? No it WANTS A FLOPPY. Little known fact, in all of the computers I've worked on not one has had the ability to list a drive other than the floppy as the a drive in the BIOS (a.k.a the basic programming that connects the hardware to the operating system). So I turned to the internet, after some research I found out that there is software that will help you recreate the Windows XP cd with the drivers you need included not easy but doable. Thank god I had my laptop.
So after using the software to create a new cd (took about an hour) I then spent the 2 1/2 hours (approx, probably longer) a windows install usually takes. Started the computer, let windows install all the hardware it didn't install the first time, ran the updates, installed an antivirus.. I can't tell you the total time it all took but finally I was done.
It was late, I was tired and aggravated but I thought I'd put in the Ubuntu disk just to see what it entailed...

Ubuntu:

Ran the install took about a half an hour, rebooted into Linux everything ran everything was there. It also included software.


Now I'm not saying dump windows run out and get a linux system going. There are still bugs there too (my printer won't work at all, it sees it just can't use it) but it amazes me how incredibly different those two experiences were considering it was the same exact hardware. Linux may not be ready for any user but it is definitely on the right track.