Power to the Penguin

About 3 years ago, I went cold turkey from Windows, and installed Ubuntu Linux. Almost 2 years ago, my parents bought their first computer. It was a nice Toshiba laptop, ran Windows XP, and would suit their needs for some time to come. The last computer they were familiar with was an Apple IIgs, so computers had come on a bit since then.
The first 6 months of PC ownership were punctuated by frequent calls to me for support for various issues, usually related to popups, viruses, spyware, etc. Bear in mind this was while running the same protection that our (then XP) laptop was running with no issues. After 6 months of emergency service, I decided it was time for mom and dad to meet the penguin.
The results were drastic - so much so that after the first week I called them, worried they weren't using the computer anymore, since I had no calls about it. "Oh, no, it's working fine. We were just looking at some pictures your Uncle Ken sent us, and scanning some to send back...." And, that's how it's been ever since.
After this experience, I'm often asked if Linux is ready for the mainstream. I always say it depends. For people like my parents, for whom the computer is a simple tool to perform 5 or 6 simple tasks, it can be a great OS. At the other end of the spectrum, for those who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty working under the hood, it can be a liberating experience. For the other 90% of the market, it's still not a good choice for 2 major reasons:

1.) "It's not like that in Windows/on my Mac"
This is true. Whether you use the KDE interface or Gnome, it's not the same. New converts from good ol' winders often cannot fathom that there is no "C drive." Just can't take it. Mac users take this a bit easier, which makes since since both have Unix/BSD ancestry.

2.) "I can't run Photoshop/WoW/my office's proprietary software/etc"
This is half true - most windows software CAN be tweaked to run either under Wine or, for a fee, Cedaga or Crossover Office. But not all software can, and frankly, sometimes it's not worth the effort. If you MUST MUST MUST use a specific program that does not offer a Linux version, Windows or Mac may be a better choice. However there are programs for Linux tghat nearly mimic the functions of most popular Windows programs.

Anyway, that's my experience with Linux - it works for me, but your mileage may vary.