It was the release of Windows Vista that first pushed me to embrace Linux full time. I've gone through cycles here and there, and although my primary PC is a Windows Surface Pro tablet, my entire homelab is 100% Linux/BSD.
I was dabbling with dual-boot Windows 95/98 and early variants of Linux desktops (Ximian, Caldera, KDE).
For me, WindowsME pushed me to switch to a Linux desktop full-time.
Between WordPerfect for Linux and StarOffice, DocBook, Mosaic, and Netscape -- they were functional enough to get my word processing and spreadsheet work accomplished.
Today, I keep the OEM Windows installation (<96GB) only for the laptop vendor's diagnostic tools while the device is under warranty.
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Arun Khan