Linux is not for beginners, although getting a bootable CD is not at all difficult. It’s handy to have if your OS gets gacked (A common MS problem, it seems). It will allow you emergency access to your files. The thing that keeps me from using it as a primary OS is that most of the software I need to use isn’t ported to Linux. It’s either Mace or Windoze.
Mace = Mac. I have s/w named “Mace,” but it’s only ported to UNIX, not Linux. Sigh.
Apparently some Windows programs can be run with WINE but its tedious and annoying to get it to work.