If you were to ditch Windows, would you go to Linux or Mac?

Here's a question for all you Windows users out there. Let's say that you were to switch from Windows to either the Linux platform or the Mac platform, which would you choose?

[poll id=161]

Here's the odd thing. If I go back five years or so I didn't come across many people who were actively considering making the shift from Windows to another platform. Sure, I knew a few people running Mac or Linux on the desktop but there were usually considered to be deviants (or designers). The handful of people who I knew who were seriously thinking about abandoning Mac for Linux were either hardened geeks or oddballs.

Nowadays things are very different. Not only are more people making the shift from Windows to another platform (and an awful lot more thinking about it), it's both acceptable, and even sexy, to do so. In fact, it's been interesting to see watch how dissatisfaction with Windows XP and now Windows Vista has been the encouragement that some need to look elsewhere.

But what platform should people choose? Free or paid for? Open-source or closed-source?

Here's the pattern that I'm seeing "in the wild". I'm generalizing but I'm finding that people with a basic working knowledge of Windows are migrating to Mac because they perceive it as being simpler and easier Windows. Folks migrating to Linux seem to be those with a really good working knowledge of Windows (and computing in general). While it's far too early for Microsoft to be worried about this platform migration, it should be having a think about why it's happening.

Personally, I'm leaning towards Linux, but I do have to admit that I keep thinking about buying a Mac more and more, especially as we do more video work at the PC Doc HQ.

Thoughts?