I just wanted to try converting Ubuntu 11.10 as my dev station. Without much of hassle, i downloaded ISO image. While i was downloading, i happen to see Windows installer this time (with only selfish motive of converting my windows workstation) and wanted to give it a try.
I also downloaded "wubi.exe" and installed it in one of my windows machine. I didn't face any issue either installation or setting up Ubuntu 11.1. I downloaded few tools needed for my development like Gvim, Emacs, Eclipse and VLC Player (don't ask me why. i hear songs when doing development). Everything was effortless. (windows only users should make a note of this. try migrating to Ubuntu :-)).
How can i get a dock (which can hold all my application launchers)? I searched a bit and found out "Cairo-dock". I m quite impressed with the features that are offered by "Cairo". You can customize the applets, docks and various other themes. If you have Ubuntu, you should really try Cairo-dock.
After couple of hours, my Ubuntu looked like this.