I won't comment on the merits. Each person can do what they want. But, the line that caught my attention was:

> The first question often asked of Windows refugees migrating to Linux is, "Why Linux?"

The answer, realistically, is probably "What else?". Unless you're comfortable with the BSD's (which I like, and weren't mentioned), or unless you have recent Mac hardware lying around, it's the easiest and most practical alternative.

It's a bit of a duopoly, isn't it?; with a third leg that's sometimes something in the BSD camp, and sometimes in the MacOS camp.