So, I installed Ubuntu Linux 8.10 on my Acer laptop that came with Windows Vista.
Verdict: unlike Windows Vista it actually seems to work. This laptop is ridiculously underpowered for Vista. It only has 1 Gig of RAM and a mediocre video card. Vista would never stop swapping on it. Linux on the other hand feels much faster.
Linux appears to have come a long way since I last tried it too. The installation process was trivial, even simpler than Mac OS X. Once installed it feels very snappy and appropriate for my laptop. Everything seems to work -- I can VPN to work (important), I can run Open Office and Eclipse. That is all I need for my productivity.
Awesome!