Thanks, Peter. I really appreciate that perspective. But what about the OS footprint on the disk?
Hard to say. There are so many options in installing Ubuntu (or any Linux distro) that it's impossible to say how much space it will take up on it's own. The 'Live Evaluation' version of Ubuntu, for instance, fits on one standard 650MB CD. There's one version of Linux that fits on a 1.44MB 3.5" disk.
The last time I installed the stanard desktop Ubuntu at home with the default options, I believe that it took up about 2GB of space.
I don't remember excactly, but I think a standard, clean XP install will take up about 2-3GB. But XP can also be customized. There's at least one version of XP that's designed for limited-space systems.
