The one thing I like about Linux is versatility. Granted, it's a limited versatility, but for the technically inclined, it can handle most everything you want in a "productive" computer. At home I have a server and development box both running Linux. I've never felt comfortable developing in the Windows9X/NT paradigm, simply because I've never done it professionally.

To make sense of that statement, consider the projects in a CS cirriculum. When you sit down in front of Visual Studio, the IDE does half of the work for you. Now I'm a big proponent of simplified work, but when I was learning the intricate details of developing in a language, this was a barrier to me. In The Pragmatic Programmer, the authors stress that IDEs that do wizard code are only useful if you keep the wizard code away from your code. I think that the fact that "if you want wizard code in Unix, you have to create your own code generator" is a good thing when you are first being introduced to a platform of development. Less experienced programmers will have a tendency to take wizard code and make it theirs.

In the end, it's all about personal preference, but I've known a lot of people that are more comfortable developing in Unix than they are in Windows. (Perhaps the history of the two systems provides explanation to this?)

ALL HAIL BRAK!!!