Returning to my experiment and summarising the results: am I going to stick with Linux?
I'd say that's a definite maybe.
For home use on my Classic, or in the field on a laptop, the alternatives really aren't an option (indeed, Windows doesn't bear thinking about). At work, I find S/Linux occasionally frustrating and exasperating. Only for the most minor reasons, but they add up. Each day, I experience the temptation to drop back to the PROM and boot up Solaris from the other disk to return to the safe, familiar world of OpenWindows and an architecture that is not only complete but fully engages with the office network. I don't have time to bend Linux to be the same.
Your mileage may vary. Right now, I can't point to a significant advantage of Linux over what I used previously that makes me more productive or otherwise improves my life. It is a tribute to the competitive featureset of Linux that it does not feel like a backwards step, but neither does the balance tip strongly in its favour yet.
I'd still like to use it as a development environment and test lab for web maintenance, but haven't got round to installing the necessary bits and copying the tools over (nor do I have the inclination to continue hacking at home after work).
I think my worst problems stem from the unfamiliar windowing environment. If I can find (or find time to compile) XView binaries, I may give OLVWM under Linux a try. (Tantalising news reaches me that one of the GNOME developers uses OLVWM and is prepared to release patches that enable it to integrate with GNOME. This may make the switch worthwhile.) Without that, I'm inclined to think that I'll give up before I give in.