I'd like to say a few words about Linux.

Linux is a free operating system, like Mac OSX or Microsoft Windows.  The simplest explanation is that the operating system, the "OS" acts like a traffic policeman, telling your computer how to direct data to or through memory, hard drives, monitors, keyboards, cd, dvd and all the peripherals found in a modern desktop pc.
The difference between Linux, Mac and Windows is that Linux is "open source" software, which is to say, the source code isn't kept from the end user.  You can look at every line of code (programming language) used in your machine.  You can modify it, improve it, re-release it, copy it or do with it as you see fit.
Or not.
Because the source code is open and available, developers can share and improve the software without a lot of secret deals, legal entanglements, lawyers, etc.
This is good, because it speeds development and makes for a more robust and secure operating system (and the applications--"programs"--that run on the operating system).  The tendency has been, that if something performs poorly, someone in the developement community will ask a question about it, or fix it, or ask someone to fix it, and since everyone benefits by improvements, things get fixed, improved and talked about.  Quickly.
I've been playing with Linux since the first Redhat release--about 10 years, I think.  The state of linux today is greatly evolved from the linux of the early days.  Back then, it was a miracle if you got X windows to work without crashing.  Installation involved dozens of floppy disks.  It was a pain in the butt.
But it was free and attractively geeky to be using an operating system that was to technically esoteric--a Unix clone for PCs.  Unheard of, in that day.

Today, Linux is vastly outperforming the non-open-source operating systems.  Most of the internet is running on Linux. Desktop workstations running Linux operating systems are becoming commonplace.  It's moving into laptops in a big way.  PDAs run linux. Hell, NASA runs Linux.
This has a lot of folks with a vested interest in Big $oftware running scared.  And when they're scared, they run to their lawyers.  They sue people. They patent stuff they don't own, the claim patent rights on things they never invented, they tie folks up in court as a way of exerting their power in the marketplace.  This sucks, but it's ok, because it is their fear that is driving them.  Big $oftware is having strokes and heart attacks.  Security patches are a significant part of total internet traffic.  Executives from Big $oftware threaten users of open source software in a poorly thought-out public relations campaign aimed at scaring companies, who are drawn by the low cost, better performance and vastly greater security of the open source system. 
In short, Big $oftware is at war with its customers.  That's what fear gets you. 

I said Linux is easy to install.  You can try it out for free (and keep it forever if you like it), if you're willing to download a cd image and burn it onto a cd (your software will let you write ISO images to your cd burner, won't it?).  The CD will boot up in your computer (if your computer is able to boot from a cd), and run ENTIRELY from the CD, without touching your hard disk at all, if that's what you wish.  It contains a large number open source programs that do just about everything you can do with a Big $oftware product. Video conferencing, VPN, web browsing, email, graphic arts, spreadsheets, website design--you name it, it's probably on that CD.  It's a great way to try out one flavor of Linux without doing anything you may later regret.  Sort of a Linux sandbox for you to play in.
It's called Knoppix, and it's just one of many CD based linux distributions available for free over the internet.  You can read more about Knoppix here.