I have migrated from DOS to Window3.1 to Windows95 to Windows98 to Windows98SE to Windows NT to Windows 2000 and finally to Linux. I now use Mepis Linux and have no need to ever play the Microsoft scam again.
I didn't take all the steps you took (through M$'s lineup of software), but I did make it to Linux, and use Mepis on my desktop.
I am sick of having to fix the wife's computer (WinXP), and were it not for my daughter's games that I want to carry forward to the next computer I buy for my wife, I would have a Linux machine there too. Instead, I will buy her an iMacG5, and kiss Norton AV and the slowness of XP (given enough time) goodbye.
When my daughter outgrows the cd games she has, she'll be on a Linux box--likely the old one my wife puts out to farm.