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I agree with the dual boot idea. But, recently there have been other options for the Linux/Windows newbie. Linux distros such as Lindows and Xandros can give the user the best of both worlds. I have tried Lindows and have found it incredibly easy to install (10 minutes tops) and it looks and feels alot like Windows. I run it on a PIII 450 IBM Thinkpad and it is pretty solid. It runs several Windows programs well and it also comes with a Click and Run wharehouse of tons of software titles to choose from. I am new to Linux and this is helping make the learning curve a little easier for an old Windows guy!
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Personally i LOVE SuSe 8.1 professional, its got tools that more advanced users can appreciate, and also has things for people jsut starting out, and iv never had a system crash, as of right now, my HP Pavilion, P3 733MHz with 384 MBs of RAm and 42.9 GB HD, i have a 771 MB swap as the begining partition and the rest is the / partition, the distro comes with like 3,000 tools and packages, and even though people say most Linux people hate it because its "shiny" i never hear them choosing "bootsplash" at start up, which is basically a nice looking screen with and has Tux and Geeko on it and there like a big monitor/TV looking thingy that takes up most the screen, inside there is the Command Prompt, theres no graphical user interface unless you count the fact that it looks really awesome, see, you do have a choice, you dont have to use a GUI, you can also do the multi screen trick with ALT CTRL F* (*= 2-6 i think) so ALT CTRL and F4 will pop up another log in and theres no GUI there at all. all in all its a great Distro for everyone, theres even ham radio tools and tools for DSL, ISDN, NICs, TV tools, i bought it and the box was kinda heavy, i didnt know why, and then, when i got home i realised (ok so not at home i made it to the car and i couldnt wait anymore lol) i opened the box, reached inside, pulled out the other box type casing, and almost pissed my pants, a nice NICE installation and user manual, an awesome Admin Manual, a lil booklet about SuSe and some of there other products, and also in that booklet at the beggining, theres people that use it talking about how it works for them (if i had the money id make a switch commercial for SuSe, lol http://www.suse.com/switch...kinda nice ring huh?) and have people talkabout how they love Linux, that would kik ass, also, something that really shocked me and was a nice thing, i realised this smaller lil peice of paper, i pulled it out, and wow, SuSe Linux stickers, 2 of the freen logo and 2 of the reg SuSe Logo, and then theres more, i pull out another booklet, its the install support booklet, i keep digging and pull out a 2003 calander that has Linux and SuSe lil trivia type things on it, then i pull out this big CD case type thingy, i open it, and realize it folds like 5 times and that its holding 7 CDs and a DVD =o <-- was my expression.
