I know very little about the operating system...although I love my web hosting servers and they are powered by linux

Can someone post a screen of the layout and the best places to find it cheap at?

Will linux run certain things like Photoshop, Sony Vegas, games, etc?

Thanks

Check out ubuntu
There's heaps of information about it on their site, not to mention the forums.
You can also try it out before you install it with the live cd, and best of all it's free

As for software, you may have to make some adjustments to the software you use, and games can be hard to get working (most aren't supported natively)

QsK, Linux is as different from Windows as Windows is as different from OSX. In other words, you'll have to relearn a lot of computer experience (like where settings are, how to get help, and how to find the solution on your own) as well as find new software. Photoshop and the rest of the Windows software you have will not run on Linux, unless you get software that pretends to be Windows, like VMWare or Wine.

VMWare, depending on your hardware, pretends to be running an entire computer, while Wine actually runs Windows software within Linux using compatibility layers. I do not recommend using any of these unless you absolutely need it.

And more often then not you don't need to. Linux has tons of software developed willingly by people like you around the world. Software like GIMP, Inkscape, Gaim, OpenOffice, and many others rival or better their Windows counterparts.

To sum it up, you are switching to an entirely new operating system. It's a new way of looking at your computer. A new operating system, no matter how easy they make it look, will have a learning curve you must defeat to successfully use Linux in the long-term. This is not unlike learning new software.

Thanks for all the info. I may test it out, but I'll probably stick to windows.

Just a word of caution; do not think of it as a cheap/free alternative to Windows. Always try it thinking that it's no other OS than Linux
The Free Windows Mindset doesn't really get you anywhere(maybe you would more like ReactOS)

Extreme Coder

You could always try out a dual boot... that has worked out very well for me in the past... you can use Linux when you want and you can use Windows when you want... but I agree with the last post... don't think of it as a cheap alternative to Windows.