I have three machines running on my home network.
1. Windows XP Pro
2. Mac Tiger
3. OpenSUSE linux
The linux is the newest OS for me. It's easy to setup and has YAST which seems like an easy package manager (program install/uninstall). I'm not sure you have enough drive space for a dual boot. Check
http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org