I've tried out several flavors of Linux since this summer. One problem that I ran into with Ubuntu was that if there is an error while installing a package/program, it's rather difficult for inexperienced folks to fix. The frustrating part is that it locks your ability to install anything else until it's resolved.
If Windows fails or isn't pre-installed on your computer, it's worth looking into. I used it to transfer files from older computers running Windows 98, that didn't have driver support for USB external memory devices, to an external hard drive. It lags terribly on old hardware, but worked for me. If you just want to use the internet and play audio/video files, Puppy Linux is the best I found to run on my AMD k6 processors.
