I use Ubuntu, Macs, and Windows each fairly frequently.
Today I find myself recommending Ubuntu for the majority of people who just surf the Web, IM and do basic photoshop stuff. GIMP is a free tool that does 80% of the stuff photoshop does and almost all of the stuff consumer photogphers will do. Updating Ubuntu is a breeze and it is free and stable and has less malware than a Mac or Windows. It can alos run on any hardware though you need Ubuntu 6.06 for powerPC processors. they also aren't full of themselves yet. Though I recommend Red Hat for anyone doing 3d work like CAD.
Windows Vista 64 runs like a runs like a rock on everything I put it on so far. It is still slower than XP but is more stable with less stuttering and supports 16GBs of Ram(though 32bit programs can only access 4 GBs of it). It should be important to note that I pay more money to build a PC than I would if I bought the stuff retail. the ability to tinker with settings to make the computer perform better is a definite plus.
Mac OSX is my least favorite. I recomend Macs for people who want an all in one unit. For people who want to do simple video editing from a handycam through Ilife and of course for people who want to do soundwork but only because they bought Emagic not because the HW is better for sound(it was better back when they used SCSI interface).
There are somethings I like about it though. I do like the fact that it is UNIX based and that with X11 you can run Linux apps on it...including WINE. I like the fact that it supports more than 4gigs of RAM if you have a Mac Pro. I do not like the fact that it is the slowest OS(though I have read that leopard is as fast as vista now but I haven't tested leopard yet so I can not say until I do later this week) (leopard should actually run faster than tiger since it doesn't support G3s I have noticed that the hackintoshes that have had Rosetta stripped down run much faster than regular Macs at the price of program compatibility of course) when running applications or the amount it will stutter with the color wheel. I am not a fan of the design with menus always on the top and I do not like the dock which is bulky and either takes up visual space or can interfere if you have anything near the bottom. I don't like how the ads tell consumers that it is malware free...I consider that to be foolish and contributes to people using their macs in foolish ways like the new trojan that disguises itself as a codec and people actually install since they think Macs can't have viruses or malware. I alos don't like how macs try to force you to use their programs I keep on having to change Quicktime from default Player. I don't like the companies attitude as well since pretty much everything in OSX has been copied or they way they handle third party programs on their systems.
As for HW there was a model of the Acer 5570 I think it was -2076 that had the same motherboard, graphics card and most fo the internals minus of course Airport , The actual case, and the Bios as a Macbook. It also retailed with a slower CPU 1.6 Ghz. The fact of the matter is Apple does not manufacture their computers nor do they design them a company called Frog does that. You can build much better than a Mac for Cheaper when you start getting into the mac pro range. For 3D modeling which si something I don't do I still scratch my head why people use macs. I mean the OS doesn't even support all teh quadro extensions and is limited to a Quadro 4500 when the 5600 has been out for over a year. CAD2 sells faster computers than the Mac Pro but yes they are ugly as hell.
As for FCP, Premiere, Avid.. I still think Avid is the best for everything bar none BUT it is also the most expensive and for many not worth the cost. FCP is still better than Premeire for color correction IMO and I find myself using it for that purpose(I kinda like the color correction on FCP a little better than Avid) but Premiere has really cut up CS3 can do pretty much anything that FCP or Avid does I just wish adobe would support 64 bit math and maybe clean the UI a little more however with After Effects combo it is a real effective tool.
