What os is best for gaming and game development?

[slasham]

Hi,
I have recently finished building my own computer and am wondering what operating system to get. I was thinking about getting Linux mint 14 because it's free and I like the layout. Ive also heard that there are very few viruses as well. The only thing is that I was unsure weither it would fit my needs. I mainly spend my time social networking and socializing as well as gaming, map development and I also try and learn a bit of basic programming from time to time. I also like to multi task.I wasn't sure about Linux to start with because I didn't think I could get certain programs and games. I was just wondering if it would be good for these things and why or why not. My alternative would be windows so which of the two would be better?
Thankyou.

[Leratadtheri]

I mainly spend my time social networking and socializing as well as gaming, map development and I also try and learn a bit of basic programming from time to time.

[CimmerianX]

Mint 14 will certainly work for web, mail, social stuff, and it shines at learning new languages and development. You are about to learn alot about Git and SVN.

But linux gaming has a way to go yet. There are games for linux, and steam is supporting that effort, but most games are still a Windows thing. You can certainly dual boot windows and linux. Or you can load windows and run Linux in a virtual box session. That's what I do for my workstation since most of my mgmt tools are windows only and Outlook is a corporate standard.