M$ = no comments
Linux = I like it a lot

IMHO

Newbies > try live cds or pre-configured distros as ex. Xandros, Yoper, Suse ( These are user friendly )
Developers > ex. Knoppix, Debian, Slackware ( Also user friendly but is more compatible and stable for tweaking etc. )
Über > ex. compile your own kernel and maybe use ex. fluxbox if you like to have a gui ( This way you end up with a secure and super fast OS )

Ohh, I am not really an über tötung but I do have some knowledge of it, I've compiled a few kernels in the past but nowadays I mostly develop web, perl and php and I am using Feather Linux as my dist.