Even if you're a pretty good user of Windows or Apple's OS X, you can still be intimidated by the prospect of learning Linux if you dive in too deeply with the wrong book for your level of understanding. The trick for most hobbyists who are reluctant to give Linux a try is to know where to safely begin, where one won't get overwhelmed with so much technical jargon that one will get turned off by the experience.
For those new to the Linux experience, Rickford Grant has written a series of books for No Starch Press entitled Ubuntu For Non-Geeks, now in its third edition. I would strongly urge the medium or expertly skilled Linux users to pick up this book, if only to recommend it to their friends who are at the beginner level and for the beginners to pick it up without hesitation. This is a beginner's book and the author makes no bones about it, but you will be surprised at how much you will be comfortable with towards the end.
For years now, computer users have been hearing about Linux and its various distributions. In the last few years, Linux has made the jump from the domain of server operators to users' desktops, replacing Windows. If you work in an office environment with a version of Linux, you already have a leg up on the curious multitudes of people who are still a little too intimidated to give Linux a try.
One of my relatives works in a office with Novell's Suse Linux instead of Windows on the desktop. Another one works with a Linux desktop and Linux Terminal Server Project on the back end. With LTSP, if a terminal computer fails, you simply unplug it and plug in a new system, connect to the server and carry on working. My point is, Linux is more popular in both the home and work environments than most people realize.
Canonical Ltd. is the UK-based sponsor of Ubuntu, currently the most popular Linux OS on the desktop. With Ubuntu being open source, programmers in and outside of Canonical contribute to its development. In fact, every six months, a new version of Ubuntu is released. Every two years, a Long Term Service (LTS) version is released, which is supported by Canonical for three years. The most recent LTS version is Ubuntu 8.04, which arrived in April of 2008 and is known as Hardy Heron (each release is given a snappy title named after an animal that also loosely describes the advancements of the OS.) Hardy Heron is the focus of Ubuntu For Non-Geeks, 3rd Edition.
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