So I've been using Pear Linux for a couple of months now. Based on Ubuntu, but with the look & feel changed to resemble OSX it generally works well, handling window resizing better than Apple and disc/USB drive mounting and ejection better than both Apple and other Linux base distros. But it still looks and handles like OSX, right down to previewing images by pressing space bar, having an expose type feature and the window control buttons on the left instead of right.
And this is starting to be part of the problem.
I really like the quick behaviour, snappy interface etc, but even with the expose-style feature available (like it is on this Mac) it simply doesn't handle windows as well as having a taskbar where open windows show up. Why is this a big deal? Well, in a work context it's not too unusual for me to have anywhere between 5 and 10 separate documents all open at the same time. At home when I prepare for worship I will often have several folders including a CD open, VLC (as a drag & drop audio player) Audacity (as an audio editor) and a browser for finding words for new songs that I can paste straight into a Libre Office writer document. Suddenly everything is very crowded and hard to find.
Now I knew that Sabayon 9 has been released and in spite of the various hassles I've had before, it is already downloading for copying to a USB stick. This is despite downloading the beta 1 version of Pear Linux version 5 at the end of last week (not had time to install yet).
There is something RIGHT about a KDE/Windows classic style interface for me, and something not so right about an OSX/Gnome 3 interface.
In fairness to Ubuntu I've not given the Unity desktop a chance yet, and although Dreamlinux did handle quite well, at least on first cursory glance, I don't know that it is sufficiently KDE-like in its handling of folders and application windows that it would work or not for me.
So yes, sucker for punishment.
Sabayon 9 is a big (2.4Gb) download. 6 hours to go.
Once again, I'd recommend Pear Linux for a Mac user that wants to try Linux, and as a decent version of Linux generally, especially with its own take on the Gnome 3 desktop. But as for me, I just want that windows classic management style.