Look once upon a time, getting something like Slackware to run, was beyond most "Windows" type guys, the point-and-click brigade rarely bother to actually learn a damn about the OS they are using.
That is fine of course, you do not need to be a mechanic to change a tyre or drive a car, but it does make things more interesting
Today Linux installs just as easily as Windows, and is just as easy to use.
All complexity under the hood is due in part to the sheer power and flexibility of the OS itself, far more capable than Windows could ever be, and partly to the somewhat anachronistic commands, which are deeply rooted in the history of various older programs. Things like VI, Emacs and other apps have their own special keys etc.
This is not a concern to most users, on the surface Linux is pretty much install and do "stuff".
Now when people moan about "command line" or "difficulty", this is really silly, changing some config setting of any depth in GNU/Linux is just as easy as hacking a Win registry setting, no more no less, which might scare some of the mouse brigade, but is no big deal to anyone with a modicum of PC knowledge. In short Linux is dead easy these days.
As for games, there are many many hundred of good games out there for Linux, even commercially well known titles, however while Linux is a massively nice OS in general, I doubt it will be the choice of gamers any time soon sadly.
It is meet to keep in mind that brands names such as Ubuntu or Mandriva apply to the GUI only, just the cloths GNU/Linux wears, the OS itself is the kernal written by Linus originally and Richard Stallman's GNU toolset. So Ubunto isn't Linux, it is just a distribution that uses a few particular GUI's by default, with a little customisation of settings etc (many of them lame imho which is why I prefer Mandriva).
