I found out that I did not have to go to that extreme, they now have Live CD's that boot up Linux without having to touch anything on your hard drive so you can try it without any worries.
So what are the advantages of Linux over Windows? I mean, can it do everything Windows can? Sorry don't really know much about it...
Well Linux cant do everything windows can do and Windows cant do everything Linux can do but for 99% of people they are pretty interchangeable.
Usually the deal breaker for Linux are a few specific apps.. if you *need* visio you cant use Linux (for example)
You know, I didn't know if I wanted to respond to your post just because I didn't know if I had the energy to get into another kinda-necessarily-detailed-but-still-user-friendly description of what advantages Linux has over Windows. But then it occurred to me that I could take the easy way out and let Linux sell itself.
Tell you what, if you have the technical know-how to be able to format and install Windows, you officially have the aptitude it takes to learn Linux. Its occasionally different than than Windows, but just as easy, and usually less hassle. Start with downloading, burning and running a Ubuntu Live CD. The hardest part is you mighthave to tell your BIOS to boot from the CD. This allows you to test drive Linux without touching your hard drive. Biggest hassle is that running from a CD is unavoidably slow.
From there you can get a taste of what a free, fully equipped OS can do for you.