Open Source and Free Software

If you want to try Linux without making a commitment, try Puppy Linux. It comes in 2 flavours - Lucid for newer machines and Wary for older ones. Download the live cd (about 100mB), burn it to a cd, set your machine boot order to cd 1st and hd 2nd and run it. It loads entirely into ram, comes with a basic program package, can read fat and ntfs windows file systems, usb sticks etc and is just generally a painless way to try Linux. You can save files to your hd or a usb stick. You have the option of installing it to your hd. I have been running the Wary version on a P3-900 with 256meg of ram and it's amazingly fast. It picked up all my hardware including a wireless network flawlessly. Small download and a ton of fun. You really have nothing to lose by trying it.