Well regarding linux & windows you can refer to many sites and posts on this forum. I feel you might be the best judge for you requirement. Before selecting your OS consider these things:
In-House vs. Outside Tech Support:
1. Do you have in-house expertise to do necessary software maintenance if you're using freely available software?
2. Can you buy a product with vendor-supplied customer support?
3. Do you need to pay a third party for customer support?
Freely-Available vs. Commercial Software
1. If you know about a vulnerability and understand the problem, you may want to apply fixes immediately to the source code rather than wait for an upgrade or patch to be released through other channels.
2. If you select freely available OS versions and don't have the resources to maintain software in-house, it's important to know that you could be on a high risk of compromise. This risk can exist because youe will not be receiving security patches on a regular basis. Freely available OS versions but without the expertise to develop and install patches may remain at risk from the vulnerability.
Understand Your Needs
When choosing an operating system, there are many things you need to consider.
Availability of source code vs. binaries
Availability of technical expertise (internal and external)
Maintenance and/or customer support
Regardless of the choice you make, you should first carefully review and understand your needs in terms of resources, cost, and security risk, as well as any other specific constraints; compare the available products and services to your needs; and then determine what product best matches your needs.
I hope it will be helpful in deciding the best OS for your comp. Well why don't you look it in terms of long term investment rather just for the existing P3 comps.
