Ubuntu is good?? Well, maybe, maybe not. I recently loaded Ubuntu 13.04 on a couple of computers and found that it seemed to go AWOL for a while when I opened any of the GP folders....Documents...Music...Videos Don't see why it did this as 12.04 was virtually spotless in this area, but for me, 12.04 would not run E-sword under wine without crashing.
Bill is right though, in fact due to the file structure used and the way it is placed on a HDD, file fragmentation is merely a bad memory from the bad old dos/windoze days. In fact there is no defrag routine for linux based systems, no registry nightmares, no virus threats. Also an ever so much more secure root system.
Currently Linux Mint Maya (V13) is worth a look Even though Ubuntu 13.04 is an LTS distribution, I gravitated to Linux mint because for me at least, it seems to be more hassle free....it opens directories in the same lack of time as I would expect, E-Sword doesn't crash and it works well in all areas I have tried.
There could be a cheaper alternative to 'Crossover' and that is 'Oracle VirtualBox'. I like it because it is free (open source) and if you are using a wireless network, the windoze OS and associated programs are completely isolated from risk of infection unless you purposely open the door to the outside world of viruses and malware . VB needs either a wired network or a separate wireless USB adapter to get outside the box.
My reason for installing VirtualBox is because Canon do not support Linux. I have a Canon multifunction printer and although I can scan or print from Linux, I can not use the direct CD/DVD label print feature unless I do it from windoze.
Food for thought?