I just got through dumping Windows and doing the hard-core swap over to Fedora Core 4 x64.
Reppiks, you CAN change how your PC looks and acts, if your in KDE, go through the control panel to Look and Feel, the skins option is in there, or if your in Gnome (like me), go through Preferences > Theme.
I decided to drop windows a long time ago, but due to hardware problms, i could not, but i can and did now.
Everything that you have to pay for (Windowblinds, widgets, etc...) can more than likley be found for free for Linux.
Want Widgets? Use SuperKaramba.
Visual Styles? KDE-Look.org and Gnome-look.org
Granted, as a freelance programmer, i understand that the nice people at stardock want to and would like to get paid, but there are so many of A and B apps out there that you have to pay for in windows, when in the linux world, these apps are free.