I'm a newbie. Wubi was a good thing for me. I spent many days on trying to get resizing going
and totally failed so to be able to do a wubi install was a great help to get to know Ubuntu.

Then I found Qemu but that one was too slow for me with ubuntu. But it solved the
failure to shut down properly on my hardware.

Next linux me tried was to use Vbox virtual install which solved the shutdown too
but was much faster than qemu.

Next easy thing was to install Ulteu Linux. super easy. But it is still in beta
and lack sound,

so I am now at Puppy 4.00 with frugal install from a DVD install using BurnCDcc
to do an .iso which was beyond me in windows but burncdcc made it even possible
for a newbie like me to master it several times with no failure while the built
in and Nero six failed every time cause was too complicated to get what to do.

Now the good side about Puppy Linux are the multisession capacity,
very clever and the Linux and Windows install is another very clever
thing that make windows and linux to coexist without doing any partitioning.
But it is only for Puppy as far as I know. And Puppy had sound going which
I failed on Ubuntu to get going. But that could be my fault.

sadly for Puppy that one fail to shut down properly too.

So I tested SliTaz Linux and that one shut down properly. But that one
fail to save in frugal mode. One have to save to an usb stick for it to
remember things and it is still a very new distro beta?

So next in line for me is to test Mint or what should I test?

Vbox and Mint look like a possible combination?

Do try Mint (E17 desktop), I ran it on a B120 laptop, an old ECS desktop, an old HP desktop and a Tablet PC and it was great on all with one exception.... when I had streaming radio it would lock up on the second or third page when opening mail.
PClinuxOS. Pardus, Opengeu (e17) are also great.
It's mostly a personal preference, get an old computer (I got mine on bulk trash pickup day, (512ram/40ghd) and try as many as you can and pick your own.. I started trying systems (last count 16) Jan (2008) and haven't settled on a perminant system yet. Pardus, PClinuxOS, Opengeu and Ubuntu are standouts if wireless is a factor for you.
It's like having a bunch of good horses in the barn you ride them from time to time every couple of days.

It's not feasible to spend a lot of time trying out distros when you need your computer for work or school. If you want a hobby, then this is perfect. There is always something to keep you busy.

Time = Productivity

IMHO

I voted Debian because many distros are built from it and it runs on many architectures. That means the newbie will have a system that will be around indefinitely, is the original, and has world-wide support. I see no issues of difficult-to-install with Debian and the kernel is the kernel so hardware, except for the newest stuff is no problem.

For a newcomer, I would have to suggest Mint. It is debian-based, which is my preferred distro, and seems to have the best hardware detection I have seen, including that of Ubuntu 8. Additionally, it's multimedia support is outstanding, what most newcomers I talk to are looking for.

I believe someone's earlier comment is correct about most people defaulting to the distro they learned on. I learned on Debian, and have played with SuSE 10 series, Mandrake (not Mandriva), Red Hat, Fedora, Mint, and Ubuntu, and keep coming back to the original Debian. For servers I prefer it's stability over most, but RHEL and Centos are both every bit as stable. Truth is I learned on Debian, I know Debian, and I know Apt.

I paid my dues installing Debian Etch on my laptop. Wireless was difficult getting running, and some of the default Alsa settings were enough to drive me mad. I would not suggest Debian Etch on a laptop for a newcomer, that is where Mint would shine. I am thinking of installing Mint on it to see how it compares, but I will probably end up back with Etch.

Both newbies and experienced users? Than it's the distribution I use, PCLinuxOS; it's relatively simple, most thinks work out of the box, but it's very powerful as well and includes the option to log in as a root by default.

But I've tried most of the distributions in the poll through the live cds, and if the question is what is better for newbies (only), than it's definitely Ubuntu. Gnome is so simple that I think that even one who hasn't ever touched a computer will feel comfortable with it soon, and Ubuntu makes it even easier. But if you intended to become an advanced user, go for Fedora, openSUSE or PCLinuxOS instead, Ubuntu is way too simplistic.

I refuse to spruik the best distro for newbies......even if you torture me....my lips were never reveal Mandriva.

oops thats the truth drug kicking in.

I voted Debian..... when I first started using linux i started with Slackware couldnt tell you why just wanted it used it for about 6 months then quit altogether with computers and i didnt have one at the time after that went to Debian and it was a piece of cake to install and get set up to how i wanted it so thats why i choose debian b/c i dont feel that its as hard as everyone says it is you cant be completely green with computers though.

For me, Wubi Ubuntu was best and still is best. The simpler, the better, which means Gnome. Now that I have my own compy, I'm putting Wubi Xubuntu on it, unless I manage to get more than my piddly 128 MB Rambus. [yes, they are Rambus sticks, not Ram]

As a new linux user and a windoze refugee i find using Puppy Linux far more easy ,as it is about 80~100 mb fro download , and excellent support from user forum...please include puppy linux for vote, as there are lot of new users who would vote for puppy

Well, my vote has to go to Ubuntu (currently 8.04 at the time of this post.) I am new to Linux and have tried a couple of other distros in the past (knoppix-live and openSuSe 10.2). Other people I know kept recommending Ubuntu so I finally tried it. I have to say that Ubuntu is the easiest distro to use that I have tried so far. It just works... beautifully with no hassles at all.

As a long-term Windows user migrating to a Linux-based operating system, I am very impressed at how quick and easy Ubuntu is to install, and how it recognizes and supports my hardware without me having to go and hunt for Linux drivers, manually download and compile complicated scripts. Everything was done transparrently for me.

By default, there is good open-source driver support for the two major mainstream graphics cards included in the distro, but if you decide to download and install the closed-source manufacturer drivers then you also get 3D-Hardware accelleration as well as excellent OpenGL support.

Initially Ubuntu is distributed only with open-source drivers and plug-in's, which follows the Debian Software Guidelines of keeping everything free. However Ubuntu will openly offer to download and install unsupported (not licensed under GPL) plug-ins's from closed-source repositories using the built-in package-manager.

Essentially, Ubuntu just installs and works right away with minimal configuration (at least it did for me), and the Media Players included with the Gnome desktop were easy to configure to run with proprietary media formats.

Ubuntu has got to get my vote as one of the easiest distros to learn to use if you are a complete newb like me. Just install and enjoy.

If you are nervous about migrating from Windows to any flavor of Linux, try out a live-media version first (run from cd/dvd directly). That way you can try out different versions without wiping out your Windows o/s until you find the one you like.

Jim and others have a good point about ms users.

In my days....I had not heard of qemu or bochs so had to install linux....and only later heard of knoppix when I started to read linux mags.

Now a days there is virtualbox for ms users or vmware etc

or live cds dvds

I still refuse to tell you that Mandriva is the one...oops truth drug still working

cheerio