Okay. So, you got a new computer which is so called super-computer (for you) - P4. This P4 system is bundled with 256 MB, 40GB, CD R/W, superb speakers, excellent webcam and many other state-of-the art hardware devices.
Software?
’’Well, I’ve installed my Lovely Windows 98’’, would be your most probable answer.
Why? You bought up latest hardware components and still working on stone-age Windows 98?
Windows 98 is NOT made to handle those huge hard-drives so efficiently, neither it can work optimally in case you have webcam and CD drives both working. Hardware multiprocessing aside, would you be able to run software like Half-life game or Google Earth??
I am not comparing Win98 with Linux anyways, but 98 is non-stable OS for the hardware now a days are on the market. You should atleast go for Windows 2000/XP if you are going for Windows OS.
This review might not be that much informative, since this is just recommendation. You can read my article on Windows XP recommendation for detailed discussion.