I'm running XP at work and W2K at home, slowly adding Linux at home. I should have a new low cost Linux box in a few weeks.

For embedded, electrical, and mechanical design, the Linux options are limited. There are some good programs available, e.g. gcc, Eclipse.

But:
- 3-D MCAD? If you've got a lot of money, there's PTC Pro/E, and (for Unix, maybe Linux later) CATIA and UGS NX. But there's nothing close to Alibre on Linux, or SolidWorks, Solid Edge, IronCAD, etc.
- Vendor embedded dev tools, such as TI Code Composer Studio? Windows only.
- Factory automation software, e.g. Denso WinCaps, Panasonic FPWinPro, A-B, and more - all Windows only.
- PCB design software: low end, there's Eagle (Win and Linux), seems to be best program in its price range. Probably good stuff for Unix, maybe Linux at high end, but the good programs in the middle (e.g. Pulsonix) only run on Windows.

I have been using VMWare Server, and have found it very useful. One possibility is to run Linux on my main computer (with a Quadro card) and run Windows as a VM. However, I'm pretty sure the performance would be lacking for CAD, compared to running W2K or XP with Nvidia's Windows OpenGL drivers.

I think it'll take some serious desktop market share (5%? 10%?) by one strain (e.g. Debian-based) of Linux before it gets more engineering design tools. I don't think the Mac will ever get many engineering design tools.

--Tony