Originally Posted by DaWei

Thank you for your suggestions. I have a Debian distro, which is why a Linux will not be the initial shot. I will probably not mess with any RTOSes, either, but OSes which modern young desktop/laptop users might choose. The "hobby" category does sound interesting, I must admit. Unfortunately, that would tilt the emphasis toward technical/experimental instead of generally useful. One of the important characteristics will be the availability of useful software for professional (but not computer-literate) people, as well as the average computer-illiterate home user.