I don't use it as desktop OS anymore, but I used to during the 4.x branch. Most of those days annoyances are now gone like having to recompile java from source

I don't use it as desktop OS anymore, but I used to during the 4.x branch. Most of those days annoyances are now gone like having to recompile java from source or using linux binaries of Mozilla/Firefox for flash (this may still apply). I don't think it's very different from using a non ultrapolished Linux distro(like Debian). Choose your WM, install bash or (pd)ksh(tcsh sucks) and your prefered tools(Eclipse, LaTeX, Emacs, OOffice... whatever) and you're ready to work. I don't like GNU userland so for me that was a plus, but some people can't live without colored ls and a several megs vi, so your mileage may vary.