On my previous comment I was talking more about the winXP crowd, which usually doesn't even run on 64bit... and how linux is the best alternative to running on the same hardware that ran XP...
But if we want to look to the higher end of the spectrum at the servers and to the high performance machines running the likes of CERN, nuclear subs, or the exchanges like CME, XETRA and NYSE... what you find is mostly UNIX based systems (LINUX, UNIX, AIX)
---this is because of limitations that you run into when you try to code directly to the Windows kernel... it gets pretty messy... so on windows you usually must work a couple of layers above the kernel using the OS' API's... you don't have that limitation on the UNIX world... so you're able to optimize the system much further.
On security front... windows has been catching up with basic UNIX security features like user based access... but they're still a pretty long way from functionalities like the context based access found on SELinux... (where a program can't touch files outside of its context, even if it is run by root) ...
On the applications side, that used to be a headache, specially in the drivers side (first time that I moved to linux on Mandrake circa 2000, it was a HUGE headache, and I ended going back to Win for a long time) but now a days, between cloud based applications and open source alternatives (plus a healthy supply of drivers) there is no lack in apps to choose from.
You got a pretty solid hardware setup, and it sounds like it gives you plenty of overhead for your current use. You could push the hardware further using a linux stack, but it doesn't sound like that's something you need.
But, when you need to optimize a system, either to spend the least possible on hardware or to tackle a problem that is large even for todays top notch hardware... then the UNIX family os systems lets you go much further than windows does.
How so? I have 64gb memory on my 64bit Windows 7 machine and unless I load up on heavy data my memory utilization hardly ever goes above 6gb. Also my hexa core CPU with 12 hyperthreads in aggregate is hardly ever utilized more than 3% while it idles. And that despite hundreds of background tasks and services running.
All new Windows OSs nowadays require root access to perform certain system manipulations. Depending on the severity of the system adjustment elevated user access is required. Also, Windows has gotten very good at segregating different users' profiles and local data repositories. What is missing?
Most people do not understand that the best line of defense is to not let an intruding software algorithm into your system. People seems to be surprised that they get malware and spybots onto their system when they surf porn, click on all kinds of email attachments,...A solid firewall (hardware and software) on my system has in the past 10 years not once caused a virus to wreck havoc on my machine. Not one time. The worst that happened was that my SSD completely died (could not even be detected by the bios) but that is hardly at all related to Windows.
I guess the worst of the Linux world is the limited software that is offered. Unless you run a very targeted set of applications you are severely limited by the software in circulation.
I would love to read about a true advantage that Linux offers TODAY over Windows 7. Oh, did I forget to mention that my computer never ever crashed or froze a single time since I run Windows 7?
