I've stuck to XP for the last few years because I have a very good sound card (with analogue in and out, digital coax in and out, AND digital optical in and out) for which there is no driver for any later Win version. The manufacturer (Marian) tries to justify that by its being an old model, BUT doesn't offer any similar newer model.

In anticipation of having to abandon XP for reasons of security, I've now bought the most nearly similar sound card I can find (Audiophile 2496), which does have drivers at least up to Win7. I've bought it now as this model is already a few years old and I'm afraid it might not remain available much longer.

I've fought shy of trying Linux mainly because I'm already using both Windows and RISC OS and don't want to be using three OSs with three different user interfaces.

Richard