As I have now worked in numerous internet/intranet/extranet projects and the solutions are 95% always been with Microsoft technology (ASP or .Net) which means Microsoft server product and Internet Information server (IIS). But I have also worked in projects (as the project director) where the technology has been J2EE on Linux servers.
There never has been the need for me to use Linux personally. I know Microsoft products by heart and inside out, they are products of which I have been working on since 1985. I have followed up on Linux since 1998, reading news and articles etc. But never had personal experiences myself.
I got an older Compaq Armada E500 laptop (a "leftover" from one of my clients) and thought I will introduce myself to Linux, to see is it an alternative for Windows - on desktop. It should be easy to install, it should contact to the net, it should send and receive mails - the usual "normal users" stuff. But most of all - IT SHOULD BE AS EASY TO USE AS WINDOWS. Otherwise I see the OS will not conquer the desktop in the near future (in many, many years). It will gain market share on servers, that I can see but not the on desktop if this ease of use is not there. Also one argument it has to be free, because that is the most used argument to switch to Linux.
So I had to choose which Linux distribution I have to take. Hmm... it was not easy to find the right Linux, but I chose SOT Linux. I would have chosen RedHat but they do not support the desktop version anymore, it is an on going open source project now. So I downloaded the iso file, burned it and inserted into my Compaq. It booted fine and so far it was easy when came the keyboard configuration. I chose my keyboard settings (Finnish) and then it crashed. I was a bit suprised that it crashed at that point - why I do not know. Ok, booted again and started the installing again and now all configurations went ok.
I have to say it was not that easy as installing Windows and it is ugly (setup UI). A lot of the configurations I had to know before to proceed. It did not detect some of the hardware (soundcard and integrated modem - and how do I know what the integrated modem is on the Compaq - like so many normal users, they do not know. But I thought that there has to be chance to change it later).
Why did I say that the setup UI was ugly, well it was. People just like nice things (Microsoft knows this), you do not buy ugly clothes. And it is no excuse that it is free, it still should look nice.
Well this ends my first part of Linux for first time users. I will write more when I have more experience of it :]