I couldn't find this before to post in here, but having finally come across it again, I'm gonna post it here for you soopa....
If you haven't, I highly suggest you sift through these threads -
especially the first one:
<a href="http://tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4170">ATTENTION: 'Why Linux is Not for You: The Lengthy Rebuttal of a Linux User'</a>
<a href="http://tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199">Which flavor of Linux?</a>
<a href="http://tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203">Top Linux Downloads</a>
<a href="http://tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144">Linux software equivalents</a>
Linux is VERY different from Windows and Mac OS. Different distros leave various amounts of things to the end user to do, but one thing that can be consistantly said across the different distros is that they all generally require the user to pay FAR more attention to details and the inner workings of the OS than Windows or Mac OS.
What I would recommend is to first tinker around with Knoppix - even if you have a seperate computer to use - this way you don't spend time installing that you may not need to. If you decide you generally like Linux (and Knoppix only gives you a VERY general idea) then go ahead and try it out. I recommend Mandrake to start out on and you can download it from
www.linuxiso.org Also, I recommend signing up to their mandrake-newbie mailing list assuming you have a good mail program where you can set up filters so the messages can go into their own folder (expect 100+ per day). The mailing list provided endless help to me when I was starting out. And don't forget you can ask questions here as well. Also, there is much help to be gotten on IRC. Connect to the network irc.freenode.net and there are many channels there to help out depending what you need help with. I believe the Mandrake channel is #Mandrake.