[GUI]

1. Ubuntu 8.10 on the desktop, Windows XP on the family laptop, and FreeBSD on the old laptop.

2.I use Ubuntu for basic computing (web, im, word processing etc.). I use XP for Inventor and because I'm not allowed to put anything else on that computer. I was messing with Free BSD because I was bored and felt like learning about stuff.

3. Ubuntu is easy to install and use, and quick. There is great community supprt. However, it seems to follow the trend for more "powerful" (slower, for me at least) media applications, and Gnome seems a little bloated.

XP supports almost all popular applications, and is relatively fast. It is rather confusing to cnfigure for me, and is too susceptible to malware and viruses.

I can't really comment on FreeBSD, I've only messed with it a little. I'll report back in the event i get motivated to do something though.

4. None that haven't been posted, I was looking at some useful Free BSD tutorials, I'll link to it if I find it again...

5. I think an OS should be simple (both graphically and functionally, secure, and standardized (I've tried several other linux distros, and they all had no problem using my /home partition).