Dell has announced that Ubuntu will be an option operating system on some of their new systems. So my timing is perfect to start learning the OS.
What I'm finding out right now is that I think they are biting off more than they can chew. First time users will likely be less problem to some degree. But If they are experienced in Windows, users will likely find they have less they can easily do. They will find lot's of differences. And the learning curve looks steep for a few things.
I just upgraded my bios on the linux system I'm using yesterday. Took quite a while to get it to take properly. It's a 5 year old motherboard on a Pentium 850 MHz system. Now it fully supports the larger new hard drives. Unfortunately, I'm waiting for a new KVM switch since both of mine seemed to have take a dump at the same time as the bios upgrade. Also, my new hard drives for my file storage hasn't arrived yet.
I have other issues as well...
My case is a rackmount that sits under my main system so it's not easy to get to. I need to remove the cdrom drive and get an external one working via usb. Then I can add another drive caddy and have all my disks removeable from the front of the case. Getting new ones with better fans for my workstation at the same time.
When it's done...I'll be bettr able to handle what's coming down the road as far as Linux goes. I've only dabbled with it over the years but it's definately close to Prime Time!