I'd just like to add a couple of short comments to what Drew has already
said.  I've been messing with Linux for the last 2 years and have been very
impressed with its rate of development.  It has truly grown from just a
"hackers" OS to a viable business alternative to NT and other Unices
(Unixes?).  The media is starting to catch up to this fact and there are
alot of articles coming out in support of it. I started with the Slackware
distribution and then moved to RedHat.  RedHat has done an excellent job in
creating a package that is easy to install.  It is configured (for the most
part) right out of the box, has an easy to use configuration utility
(Linuxconf in 5.1), and recognizes hardware as well as or better than
95/NT.  This coupled with the KDE desktop environment (an X-Window control
environment that gives point and click, drag n drop ease of use) will make
the transition from Windows 95/NT relatively easier than it used to be.
There are also several office suites available and improving all the time
from Redhat's Applixware to StarOffice and now with Corel announcing it's
support for Linux, the Corel Wordperfect Office suite.  The Linux
development environment is changing swiftly and I think you are going to
see a lot more companies jumping onto the Linux support bandwagon.
Netscapes release of their source code is going to have a big impact on the
Linux community and what we are going to see over the next year.

You can purchase RedHat 5.1 for $1.99 (cheapbytes edition) or the official
version for around $35 (at Cheapbytes  http://www.cheapbytes.com  [no
affiliation]).  You can learn more about Linux from http://www.linux.org ;
for software news you can follow Freshmeat http://freshmeat.net  for
documentation check out Linux Doc Project http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw  and
if you're geeky enough to be interested you can checkout Slashdot at
http://slashdot.org
There are also lots of news groups where you can find support and info,
most of these are under comp.os.linux.*


Don Gray
NetCaliber Computer Services
(541)923-3255  [voice/fax]
http://www.netcaliber.com