Real Users Scoof at 'Miniscule' Desktop Share of Win 64 compared to Mainstream Linux 64

Look, I am probably in the wrong place, and I anm certain to sound like an idiot, but I can deal with that. I have been a DOS-Windows tech since DOS 2.01 and Windows 286. I can----or could at one time....write 8088 code in buttembly before Borland came out with T-Pascal. Since then, high level languages have made no sense to me. I am almost 60 years old and I spend hours a day fielding calls from people who cannot configure Outlook Express or are afraid to register XP and it stops working. I can't even charge the people anymore because I think they are being intentionally led down the primrose path so they have to buy a new computer and a new version of Windows every two years. I just tried to download a file I needed and MS made me go through a verifivcation process to see if my version was 'legal' which, of course, it is.

That's it. I am already using FireFox, Tbird, Open Office and The Gimp, and I don't think I need to be one of Bill Gates' pimps any longer. Can someone please help me? Do I want an expensive OS-X Mac? Can I find a viable version of Linux? Because, my 40 GIG laptop is not enough to support windows and the ancillary programs I have in use, most of which are going to be obsolete with the Longhorn OS is released.