Thanks for the comparison and contrast with Windows. Thanks to everyone for a
very fascinating discussion on Linux and moderators for your time you devote
this this group.

I have been real impressed with the boot up speed of Linux. So impressed I
timed it and Windows XP with a stop watch. Almost every Linux system I have
will boot up around 1 minute. I have three running currently and have tried
several versions of Ubuntu on these machines. My Dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 2.39
GHz Dell with Win XP multi media boot up in 7 minutes. Yes, it does have loads
of programs on the HDD, along with various defences., but my 5 year old Dell
laptop running Mint 8 with an energy conserving system, will still boot up in
much less time, 1 minute and does 90% of what I want, I am very impressed.