I love Ubuntu albeit with a different desktop. Personally I always install KDE because I've always found the gnome settings too complex across programs & as for the standard, it might work but it's horrible. I think I've dumped it every time.

However whether your flavour of linux is Ubuntu, SuSE, Redhat (ick), or any of the others, at least with linux it's secure. It's also far quicker than windoze & not as restrictive as Apple. Takes a little learning but so much better...