XMas '09 - A Great Time to Be a Geek

As the end of the year approaches I've been thinking about what a great time it is to be a geek.  I can't remember another time when there were so many professional, modern operating systems to choose from.

Since I unfortunately don't have time to personally review all of these great choices at the quality I'd like, (or greater than has already been done), I'll link to the best ones I've found below.

The Undercard:

Lots of fun and interesting choices here, and these projects need your help!
Flyweights:

• Haiku Alpha 1  vs.
  This is an Open Source version of of the amazing "hyper-threaded" BeOS.
• Ars Technica
• OS News
• TechRadar
  
  


• ReactOS 0.3.11
  Teaming up with WINE to deliver a complete open source Windows compatible OS.
• Ars Technica
• Internetling
  

Bantamweights:

• Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) vs.
  The primary Linux contender for the desktop.
  
  • Ars Technica
  • Linux Critic
    
    
• OpenSUSE 11.2  vs.
  A recently updated "enterprisey" robust GNU/Linux operating system.
• Ars Technica
• Linux Critic
• Desktop Linux
  
  
• the BSDs
  Everywhere and yet nowhere.
• FSM
• OSnews
• nixCraft
  

Saturday Night's Main Event:

• Mac OSX Snow Leopard vs.
  No OS is perfect, but this one has a some big advantages.  It's hard to beat Apple/NeXT GUI magic with UNIX underpinnings.
  
  
  • Ars Technica, the Definitive 23-page review, by John Siracusa.
  • Engadget
    
  
  

• Windows  _7_
  Hasta La Vista, Baby!  The best release of Windows in many years.
  
  • Ars Technica
  • Engadget
  • Thurrott SuperSite