Well, Microsoft XP SP2 updates almost crippled my business, so I'm eager to make sure my next Pc is either Linux of Apple based. Trouble is, not many vendors in the UK are selling PC's with Linux pre-installed, and that's soemthing I insist upon - because a pre-installed Linux system would have to have all compatable drivers. If I wanted to waste time chaning up new drivers and patches, I'd stay with XP.
Then your best bet would be MAC G-5 or powerbook G-4 Brian. Windows will never solve the security problem, the foundation of the OS itself is flawed and many have said they would have to start all over from scratch to make a good OS. But M$ will not do such. They have little hope to keep folks from switching and have resorted to propaganda and scare tactics. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/18/ballmer_linux_lawsuits/
And the moral of this story is: Never be a beta tester for anyone, not even Microsoft. My advice to everyone regarding anything even approaching the update SP-2 was (in my opinion, this is just one step below a new operating system in its scope) is wait a while, minimum one month, before installing it, and in the meantime check frequently for complaintes and horror stories and wait for the inevitable fixes and work-arounds. I would especially advise this in a work environment where the costs of down-time are way beyond not being able to sign in to your favorite forum for a day or two. In advance, I hereby give the sme advice to everyone about Longhorn -- wait a minimum of a month, and preferably more like 6 months, before upgrading. Let the rest of the world do the beta testing...
The funny thing is you dont really need SP2 as long as you dont use IE and Outlook. use Opera instead.