Choice of desktop OS

Back in April of this year, I bought a new Dell AMD desktop which comes with Vista installed. I gave that a twirl for a month and thought maybe I should go with Linux so that I can install Oracle on a "proper" OS and also Vista applications are tough to come by.

I am finding that Linux (I chose Ubuntu) has similar problems where I was not able to use the software that comes with my various devices (digital camera, especially plus DiVX/DVD player) and the wife likes to use IE as her default browser so now I am looking at:

a) Going back to Vista and try to work around the lack of software;
b) Stay on Ubuntu and look for corresponding alternate software that I need;
c) Go back to Windows 2000 (my original desktop of choice);
d) Go to Windows Server 2003 (I've a 5 client licence for this); or
e) Another flavour of Linux like Red Hat/Centos.

I've tried (c) and having issues with getting the software patched/updated with all the various patches/security updates/service packs without having to connect to the Internet before having the PC patched. I probably will have to revisit my approach although I have used my old desktop to download the various patches/service packs, etc.

I also need to spend some more time searching for alternate software that I need that will run on Ubuntu or Centos. With Windows Server 2003, I'm reluctant to do so until I learn more about securing it (is that an oxymoron?).

I will try and post my experience as I go about searching for the "prefect" desktop.