Running Linux Kubuntu 7.04 on a T30

OK, so my main Desktop @ home has WindowsXP Pro, And makes it kinda hard to be a dual boot system. As all my files. Eventhough are not as organized as I would like them to be, are set up in a way that makes it hard to reconfigure. On top of that most files are Windows oriented. This crippled my wishes to run a linux system without the feeling that it was not a "pure" installation. I went for the lookout for a notebook that was cheap and reliable enough to run linux. I bumped up with an IBM T30. So I bought it from some guy who only used for small office tasks. Took it home, and started prepping for an OS install. After deciding what flavor of linux I was going to be running on the T30, being a definite duel, not between distros. As much as the importance, of which main graphical environment I am going to be running most of the time. Like most, I had to make a choice between KDE or Gnome. Well, I've always liked KDE eventhough Gnome is one sweet interface, I ended up going for that not so as famous Kubuntu flavor. I gotta say, the T30, being a 2003 notebook, took the installation like a charm, all the hardware is detected next to no extra configuration. I've taken the liberty of installing Beryl and I was very impressed at how this notebook with a 16MB ATI Video Card (In my personal opinion) is able to perform running Beryl. Something some current PCs cannot do running Vista with Aero. Right now I have just finished setting up Evolution with my Gmail account. Which takes me to my short most recent rant about Microsoft. Now I was just reading that Live Mail is planning in the future to provide POP support for free hotmail accounts, somewhere in the window of the next 12 months. I'm guessing this will be Ad-Supported, of course. Yet puts me in quite a canondrum, should I pay those 20$ a year? I guess I wont be cheap and go for it. cause no matter what I hate that new UI for Live Mail,. All current web-based clients as a matter of fact.