'Tis good that you have it working. I try to do
everything in Linux - KDE versions - but for my sins, I moderate
an email group using a Windows based CAD programme. So, I
have XP running dual boot with Kubuntu on an elderly laptop.
It has been that way for several years with the only change a
full upgrade to 12.04 Kubuntu.

Most of my writing and other work is on a desktop running Mepis 11.
Nice and stable with nothing silly happening to waste my time. One
of these days, the hard drive may expire (before I do) but there is a
external USB linked HD that looks after backup.

Get as as you can over to Linux, after running MS systems since the
days of Win3.1, I stopped at XP and have never regretted it.