During TechRepublic's Live Event, I said that I could hand a Linux machine to new users and give them the information necessary to make sure their transition to Linux was successful--and they wouldn't be hounding me constantly on how X is done or asking, "What is Y?"

I could tell by the faces of the audience members that some of them wanted to know how I could make such a bold statement. With that in mind, here are 10 pieces of information to pass on to new Linux users that will ensure a successful transition.

1: It's just an operating system

Only two years ago, this issue wouldn't even have been mentioned. The thing is, the vast majority of work now is done through a Web browser. This makes the operating system almost irrelevant. So long as the operating system can run a browser, it will most likely live in the background, working away without so much as being noticed. Of course, this should be the case anyway, as an operating system is nothing more than a layer between user applications and hardware.

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