No more difficult than OS X !
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS installs easily, virtually any application you can do with MS, there is a similar mirror of it under a different name and slightly different way of performing the same tasks in Open Source software applications. Use Ubuntu's software repositories and they install flawlessly. Linux shouldn't scare anyone any moreso than OS X. I wouldn't consider Linux a basic OS, it's equally as capable of Windows and then some. Vista is actually becoming more like OS X and Linux, but still bears the heftier pricetags.
Off topic, had to laugh, the guy boasting about getting Vista RC1 32/64 bit versions, was walking out of work moments ago, he can't even get the 32 bit version to install on a standard issue, same hardware across the board Dell. He tells me other's are experiencing this same issue. Hey, when Microsoft pays me or anyone else for wasted time on/with Vista, their OS should be free. Makes me appreciate Ubuntu even more.
