What? The "average user" needs a web browser, email client, and a word processor. Ubuntu includes all of this - Firefox, Evolution, and Open Office. Linux IS the best operating system for the average user.
Windows xp (old editions, if available) will do all the required work; the only catch point is you won't get no more support the costlier but crappy alternative is vista
You're really under estimating the average user. I'm not talking about grandmothers and such. Even my mom uses programs like Photoshop.
People are using computers more and more daily, I agree! They really do save time and in most cases money.
Linux can do just as much as Windows can in most aspects. Applications for Linux are getting easier to use by the day and the distros are very user friendly. KDE 4 will likely be just as good looking as MAC OS or Windows and it is also very user friendly. Programs like Wine help the Windows -> Linux transition and there are many great apps for Linux such as GIMP. Really the bad attitudes/stigmas toward Linux are what is holding it back, not its actual features. That is just Linux as a desktop OS. Really Linux runs on so many devices that you do not realize. Whether it is a mobile phone or a supercomputer Linux can handle it. Especially for servers Linux is extremely stable.
KDE is the most buggy app I ever seen. Please don't say that it is better than ANY Windows shell, because I'm going to kill myself KDE gaved me more errors than I had in Windows 95 )
I really like windows, and I've used it since 95 was out! Its a shame they think 3.5gb memory is enough!
I know, I own the Adobe Suite. And I can tell you from experience that it is NOTHING like Photoshop. Photoshop is thousands of times more powerful. It shares more relations to MS paint