[Chloe]

...a Windows operating system?

[gregroelofs]

Keep in mind that there are at least a dozen variants of Windows and literally hundreds of Linux "operating systems" (really distributions: OS plus applications) out there.Most Linux distros are quite specialized. There are floppy-based firewalls, business-card-sized CD rescue kits, game distros, medical/PAC distros, school/educational distros, scientific-analysis distros, you name it. One of the more popular categories is "live CDs," which let you boot directly into Linux from a CD-ROM drive without even touching the hard drive. This lets you test-drive Linux without risk of messing up your main OS. If and when you decide you like a particular distribution, most give you the option to install to a hard-drive partition. KNOPPIX is the best known distro in this category, but there are dozens; check the link below for a (fairly) complete list.Keep in mind one big caveat, however: virtually every hardware manufacturer on the planet provides drivers for Windows, but support for the latest hardware on Linux can lag by a few months, and a few devices (e.g., those with no technical documentation and deliberately obfuscated interfaces) may never be supported. Most of these are identified on various Linux hardware sites; the most common are "winmodems,""winprinters," and some wireless cards.

lwn.net

[Curious1]

Linspire Linux is designed to be very "windows" like. In fact, they use to be called "Lindows" It's designed for the computer novice who is familiar with Windows. I use and love it.