Snow Leopard makes me switch to Windows XP

Last week was full of excitement by Macintosh fans as Apple released the new update to the OSX operating system -- Snow Leopard.

I was interested and took a look at the buzz and the business side of the release in a post over at the Future Shop Techblog.

Then I rolled up my sleeves and installed the sucker on our Mac Mini, which served as our Kitchen Computer.

Easy. Flawless. I love it when Things Just Work^(tm). Apple seems to have it down pat.

Here's where XP replaces OSX
Now, I say the Mac Mini served, past tense, as I also took this weekend as an opportunity to replace the Mini with an ASRock Ion 330, running Windows XP (for the time being).

The reason for the replacement? The Mac is just too much computer to be relegated to the roll of just a media centre. It's just too capable a machine to be locked in the kitchen playing tunes with Songbird.

Ah, so that's it
So, our plan is to keep the ASRock running XP, though we may move over to Ubuntu if we need to. It's a pretty sweet box too.

Intel^® Atom™ 330 (Dual-Core CPU)
NVIDIA^® ION™ graphics processor
Small (2.5L)
Silent (acoustic below 26 dB)
Energy Star 5.0 level (Low power consumption)

I believe it's certified for Vista and Win7, but I need a light OS. Some of the software I plan to install on it over the next few weeks:

Of course, Firefox, Comodo Firewall and AVG AntiVirus are already installed

Well, what am I missing? This is a light duty, kitchen computer, so I *think* I've got all the bases covered...but maybe not. What would *you* install on it?

As for the Mac Mini, well, my wife has plans for it