Linux

Yes, it's easy. BUT:

• buy Linux-compatible hardware. While you might technically be able to get something to run by fucking around, it's just better to bit Linux-compatible hardware. If something doesn't work, it doesn't work, put it on a shelf and try again in six months.
• If you're dual-booting windows, know that windows occasionally nukes the boot loader, so that only windows loads. This happens irregularly, like every 2-5 years. A Linux friend can help fix it, or you can follow instructions online (you need an empty thumb drive to do it).

I would say dual boot so you can use windows when you can't figure something out

If you mean "dumb friendly" by "An exact Windows clone"... there are plenty of "Windowslike" Linux distros out there.

If you mean "user friendly" by "Easy to understand by any user"... then yes, (any) Linux distro is user friendly as is.

Most operating systems these days are just micro-kernels to run the actual operating system, your browser. Most users will be perfectly happy using whatever in most cases as long as you can get one of the major browsers on it.

If they have special requirements, then you need to figure them out first.

I find that people who come from the old days of linux will often respond "you have to use terminal", or "learn the operating system", or even balk at people saying you can just use the GUI Interface/Desktop Environments. And then when you get help from expirienced users you get allot of terminal commands, which makes people think "I can't use Linux without learning the terminal first". In actuality it is just easier to show a person a command and ask for the results than it is to walk a person through getting the same info otherwise.

"OK, which Desktop Environment are you using?".

"Desktop what?".

"Which version of OS did you download and install?".

"Cinnamon.".

"X or Wayland?".

"What's a Wayland?".

"OK, X. Is your system up to date and which kernel are you running?".

...and so on. It is faster to just help working in the terminal. The Desktop Environments are fairly far along and most that I have worked with you could get by completely in the Desktop and not touch the terminal.

I would suggest Linux Mint, but for now I would stick to the non latest version of 21.3 as they bit off ALLOT in 22 and while it works for allot of people there are driver bugs they inherited from Ubuntu and have not implemented the fix for yet and allot of other pains in the toukus so if you want a version with the minimum of troubleshooting and stable Desktop Environments I would stick to 21.3 (If I had any sense I would be switching back to it from 22 myself).

If you want another option it would be Ubuntu and its Different Desktop 'Spins' to see which you like the most. Some people prefer to start off on Fedora and I am told it has a good DE, or some people recommend PopOS which had its own spin on a DE but they have let development lag on it as they developed their Cosmic Desktop for the Wayland project (the project that is superseding the X.org project for making windows).

Which ever you choose, good luck. I am in the same boat and I am trying to learn what I can before it is too late.

If you decide yes, I highly recommend Fedora Silverblue, or any of the distros based on silverblue/ublue. I myself love Bazzite for gaming.

Those are atomic and immutable, meaning you cannot easily break core files, and every single thing can be updated in the app store. It's the windows equivalent of not being able to modify/delete C:\Windows; and getting firmware, drivers, applications, and Windows updates all in one click using the Microsoft Store.

If the PC you're building has the latest and greatest hardware in it, you might find that Linux might not support that stuff yet. You might get lucky, but you might not either. It usually takes a little while to get new hardware supported. So it might be a better idea to install Linux on your older computer, then there's no reason to buy a new PC anyway. Linux uses about half the RAM that Windows uses, for example, so it's like you did an upgrade anyway. As long as you have over 4 GB of RAM, you're fine for desktop usage. Windows requires 8 to run as well that Linux does at 4. You'd only need to upgrade if you're after extreme gaming support.

You should be fine doing what you want on Linux. Just make sure everything works before installing completely. There is a liveUSB mode that let's you try it before you install.

Mint and PoP os are good ones to try.

Can also check out Zorin os which is pretty good too but doesn't update as often.

I will recommend you Fedora Budgie Edition. You will never need to open terminal on it and interface is more user friendly.

You can absolutely get by by, and have a great experience with GNOME + the app store.

Its a reason its default on so many distros.

If you pick a new user-friendly distro, nine times out of ten it'll run like a dream out of the box.

If you want to change something minor like a desktop background, you might need to search through menus for the settings or ask for advice.

If you want to install new hardware, like swapping in a new video card, you'll definitely need some assistance.

I actually tried linux (Fedora) this past weekend; I had fewer issues installing and using it as a day to day computer, than I did with Windows. Tried out Gnome and KDE both, preferred gnome but UI scaling (for my shit vision) was simpler out-of-the-box on KDE (about 125-150% was comfortable for me.) I found KDE a bit overwhelmingly customizable to start out with, and maybe a bit bloated.

The caveat to this was Gaming, in my case I did not have a good time with gaming (probably because I am trying to run at 4k and play a game dependant on Ubisoft DRM, as well as an older MMO that doesnt handle high DPI screens and ui scaling). Very frame-y at 4K, a decent amount of tinkering is/was required. YMMV, check ProtonDB as it is heavily dependent on what games you play, and heavily dependent on Steam. If you want to multi-box (without software, just alt-tab through windows) an MMO, I found functionally no information on how to open multiple instances of the same game to do so (which is why I mentioned the dependency on steam, which only seems to let you have one game launched at any given time)

Moving back to windows for gaming felt like a major downgrade as far as general computer work goes. Inside of an hour I had a fully functional, up to date, linux machine. Windows 11 took 1-2 hours to install and update itself, then another hour to install drivers, then longer to de-bloat and start disabling all the stupid shit from Microsoft. I'm sure I'll be doing that continuously for the next few weeks.