DescentBB

I've been using it as my dev OS and seems to be really nice. I've had to do some crazy networking with it at the office and do programming on it and so far it makes everything every noob friendly. The file manager holds up better to networking and doesn't get drunk and bust samba's lip open. The titling works much better with more options on where to quickly place windows. Though that's not new, it seems to have more options than version 11 had.

I didn't have to use strftime()-isms to fix the clock from a communist 24 hour clock to 12 hour AM/PM freedom clock. There's just a simple button for it.

I used Mint for a couple years and loved it. I now run Ubuntu Studio, but only because I prefer the XFCE desktop and I got tired of waiting the extra months for Mint to release theirs. Plus, Ubuntu Studio takes just slightly less customization for my needs. Mint has a better community hands-down and I will probably swing back that way eventually.

I've been thinking of testing out Ubuntu Studio. I hear it has a real time kernel for audio, but I haven't looked it up yet.