2006 is ages ago! If you've a USB you can try linux out without installing it via live usb (or you can do it via a virtual machine. I actually made my parents switch to linux and it only took me a couple of mins to show them how it works and they've been using it for months now
Check Kubuntu out and you might find it helpful if you switch to open source cross platform apps first, see this post
I was thinking of using Linux Mint and installed it on a thumb drive too. It was in 2010 or something. And didn't go through with it. Mint looks superficially a bit more like windows.
I love Linux Mint and I use it specifically because of Cinnamon. I hate fancy desktops, Cinnamon is the sweet spot. XCFE is also pretty good. Mint offers an XCFE version. Also, you can install pretty much any desktop environment you want and choose them at start-up but it is easier with Ubuntu to do that since it comes in so many release flavors.
2006 is ages ago! If you've a USB you can try linux out without installing it via live usb (or you can do it via a virtual machine. I actually made my parents switch to linux and it only took me a couple of mins to show them how it works and they've been using it for months now
Check Kubuntu out and you might find it helpful if you switch to open source cross platform apps first, see this post
I was thinking of using Linux Mint and installed it on a thumb drive too. It was in 2010 or something. And didn't go through with it. Mint looks superficially a bit more like windows.
See my comment about Mint and KDE. You can just try them out and see which you like
I love Linux Mint and I use it specifically because of Cinnamon. I hate fancy desktops, Cinnamon is the sweet spot. XCFE is also pretty good. Mint offers an XCFE version. Also, you can install pretty much any desktop environment you want and choose them at start-up but it is easier with Ubuntu to do that since it comes in so many release flavors.