Alternative OS question

Ubuntu Linux distribution is very user-friendly and has the largest support forums

http://www.ubuntu.com/

RedHat distribution is not bad ether and they even have low-cost commercial version with full customer support.  

One piece of advise - be patient when you start learning, it can be very frustrating ;-) 

FInd a spare computer and try out a few linux distributions.   My favorite is Opensuse right now.  You can dual boot (where you have windows and linux on the same computer and it asks which one you want to start when you power on) but I recommend an extra pC so you can really play without fear of breaking something you need.  Used computers are under a $100 these days, so go for it.   

I really don't think there is much you can't do on Linux.  I could easily use OpenSUSE or fedora as my only compuer.  My wife likes the Windows though.   There are free versions of pretty much any type of software you could need.  It does require a bit of tinkering to get some things to work, though.   Fun if you are into that sorta stuff,  annoying if you just want to work. 

I've been using linux as my only OS for about 5 years now (still dual boot to Win for some games i like, but that's really just for gaming).  I use Fedora... it is Redhat's non-commercial distribution.  I've heard great things about Ubunto as well.  As has been said, try several... the real difference is in what you end up getting comfortable with. 

Just don't keep anything important on the drives until you really figure it out, because you'll wanna wipe everything and start again a number of times as you learn and experiment. 

Ubuntu annoys me.

I'd suggest Centos ( repackaged redhat ). Quite popular, and if it applies to redhat, it applies to Centos. The install is graphical and fairly straight forward, and just *works*.

You can also try it out as a 'live cd' ( IE, you don't have to install, it runs off the cd ) before taking the plunge to installing it:

http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2007-July/014018.html

Ubuntu for me.  I like that it's Debian based.

Red Hat/Fedora I don't like.  I never liked the package management.

Good luck and have fun!