This summer I finally decided to build up a dedicated winter bike. It eliminates having to swap tires, and keeps the salt off my other bikes. It's an old Schwinn frame with odd parts that were in my bins.
For me, showing the world that I only need one bike is kind of pointless. The world already knows, and I have enough space for a spare bike or two.
Since we've had early snow, I've been able to take the bike on a few shakedown rides. I will probably conclude that gears are a good thing. The main issue is that if I stand on the pedals, I lose traction on my rear wheel. It's a single speed right now. I have a 3 speed coaster hub, and maybe Santa will bring me spokes and a rim.
Everybody's climate and winter road conditions are different, so there's no one-size-fits-all solution to winter cycling. Madison salts the streets pretty heavily. Even when the streets are dry, a salt dust gets churned up, that sticks to bikes.