I first started using Linux when I needed a compiler to start learning C-programming. It was in Munich that my friends Jochen and Christian showed me the light of UNIX, GNU and Linux. It might actually have been a hurd kernel but I was such a noob that I wouldn't know.
Later I was working as the network administrator for a small company in Finland. The M$ servers (NT 3.51) could do file sharing and they could act as "Domain Controllers" (just how useful is that?). I needed e-mail, proxy services, DNS cacheing etc. but on NT most of those services would have cost as much as the OS itself. With Linux everything I needed was on the distribution CD. Also there were HOWTO documents which were easy to follow and gave guidance to the aspiring system administrator.
Soon I started using Linux on my PC at home and on my laptop computer too. Now many years have passed and I live happily in a completely MS-free home.
For many years I used the Slackware Linux distribution and I still think it is probably the most robust choice available. Use it on servers. For my workstations I use Gentoo linux. Gentoo takes very little effort to administer. On a workstation I don't care too much if there are some extra processes running or if there is a configuration file there which I don't understand. The requirements for my desktop operating system are those same ones which made Windows™ into what it is. Gentoo is just way better. I should perhaps also note that my office computer runs the Ubuntu distibution.
For those who are tempted by the warez I give this advice; Just Say NO! Do not use pirated software! It won't make you go blind or anything but Windows™ would never have gained it's present place in the market if it hadn't been spread everywhere by illegal copying in the beginning.
I hope you will say NO to so called "legal" software too. The whole IP-issue disgusts me so much that I prefer to use free software for everything and this choice doesn't limit me. I'm quite enabled by all the available software, and besides, none of my computers have run a virus scanner for the last five years. Virus scanning is just a work-around for poorly designed operatingsystems just as antispyware is.
Let's now move on to choosing a distribution for you. I'm not suggesting that you should use slackware because I use slackware. The technical differences between distributions are of minor importance. Most importantly your distibution should have a community of users that are on the same level with you. If you don't understand the installation guide you should choose a simpler distribution like ubuntu. If you are frustated with having too little control of the installation you might need a more advanced distribution. It's all about choosing what sort of people you can stand on the forums.