I started with Slackware about the same time, maybe later like in 1994. It was an early release on a multi-CD boxed set.
At the time one had to know everything about their computer, especially to rebuild the kernel. Then if XWindows was wanted we had to dive in and learn about the inner workings of the video card and attached monitor.
I moved on to other distro's in the early 2000's that removed that work for me. The base OS was stable enough... well actually very stable. The issue for Linux is and will be the applications. GIMP is no replacement for Photoshop, especially for advanced photographers. First there are not the plug-ins and filters available for GIMP and GIMP did not have color calibration available at the time I made my last OS decision.
If one is a professional writer, such as my wife, then there is the issue of word processing. The standard is Word. If doing collaboration there will be issues in change tracking. OneOffice is still not there. Word's track changes feature again is the standard for most authors.
As a few have pointed out, get the OS that sucks less. Also get the OS that fits the need. I would add get the OS that supports the applications you need to run. Crossover Office is nice but it doesn't run everything and now we are running Windows applications on OS X or Linux. I'm sure that will introduce issues and make problem resolution harder as the users will be told their platform is not supported.
For me, at this time, my OS choice is OS X.
There's your problem. You used an Ubuntu-based distribution.
If you're going with Linux, Slackware FTW. That distro has Just Worked[tm] since 1993. Everything Pat and his team releases is solid and stable. I used that distro for 20 years for all my personal use until switching to OS X (my only reason for switching was I got tired of building and maintaining my own hardware). I still dabble in it from time to time, but if I were to go back to Linux, Slackware would be the choice.
After that, stay with OS X.
BL.
