I miss my '91 Rock Hopper - sure, it was battered (complete with a slight kink in the top tube), but I honestly enjoyed riding it as much as any of my other (more expensive) bikes.

As for gearing, I like close ratios, so that I can pick my cadence for whatever speed I want to run. The DB with the 11-28 cassette will have reasonably close spacing, probably more so than the 6-speed Schwinn. You could always swap cassettes to get closer ratios. 22 teeth on the inner ring is smaller than anything you'd be likely to need for commuting - I like 46-38-30 or thereabouts for chainring ratios. Again, these are easy to change.