I used to dual boot but I've recently discovered how powerful virtualbox
(from the repositories) is. There were two reasons I thought I had to keep
Windows - MS Streets and Trips and a proprietory remote access database
programme used by my political party to keep track of all memberships. The
former uses a USB GPS sensor and the latter a VPN.
I installed virtualbox and Windows XP within Ubuntu and found much to my
surprise and delight that both worked perfectly! Most of the time they
aren't in use, but when I need them I don't lose the functionality and
stability of Ubuntu. It's just a keystroke away.
This has proven so stable and useful that I now have virtualbox on all 3 of
my Linux machines and use it to test out new distros daily, without
installing and potentially messing up the finely tuned Linux Operating
Systems I like to use daily. There is something very satisfying about having
many alternative O/S's available this way, running just as well as if they
were dual booted.