The Linux, Linux uber alles crew generally suggest such things because they assume you want to run Linux (and occasionally do stuff in Windows when you absolutely have to). Having taken a long, hard look at things, you can't reasonably do production in a virtualized Windows environment. You can, however, run your email and internet inside a linux environment. It actually protects you better against viruses and malware. The downside is if you look at it funny it will break and all the linux people will look at you like you're a fucking moron who doesn't know how to run a computer before giving you a half-dozen shell commands to try to fix the problem. Creatives, be they architects, sound mixers or machinists, have no choice but a professional, legacy environment. Anything designed to run in a company big enough for an IT department is going to run on Windows first, mmmmmaybe Mac if it's advertising-related and Linux not at all.