well all my gaming friends use XP, they say vista will not do some of the things they need it to do. my daughters vista is currently down and it is a new laptop. I, myself use ubuntu 9.04, if I had a new computer(about 4yrs old and I was getting the blue screen) it would work better. It is totally free and so is most of the software. you can download and burn yourself or order free over the net. the cd is a live cd and will work even if your computer is getting the blue srceen and will not load up, as long as it will turn on! If it was me I would do a wipe and load up XP.
I play World of Warcraft, and there are days when vista refuses to cooperate, i've found several programs that vista absolutely refuses to work with. Most gamers that i know prefer XP as well.
I've known a few people who used Linux and loved it, but try getting software to support it can be a bear......
