Go for Ubuntu
Most OS now have the same level of user friendliness, Linux has come a LONG way. I remember the days I had to hand configure the Xconfigruation file to get the graphics card to work. Now installing and using Linux is much easier than Windows...oh the irony.
At home I have Ubuntu for my Wife and Kids one family WindowsXP machine, Ubuntu for my server and my work laptop has WindowsXP. The point is the non PC savy group at home manage just fine with UBuntu.
A very cool distribution is Kbuntu that uses the same core as Ubuntu but has the slik KDE desktop.
My recommendations is to do a dual boot just in case you need windows for something.
First install Windows
Then install Ubuntu/Kbuntu
Have fun,
=X=
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