Hi Kaistar,
If I can throw in my 2 cents on this.
Linux is receiving more hardware support every day. With the economy in a slump you can expect to see even more hardware vendors supporting Linux as a new source of revenue.

The support that Linux already has from hardware manufacturers is amazing.
Asus motherboards, Nvidia Video Cards, HP Printers are just a few.
And there is hardware in which the manufacturer makes it clear they do not support Linux yet their hardware is used in Linux media systems as they make some of the best TV tuner cards on the market. That being Hauppaugue.

As for Linux being user friendly and easy to install? Yes it is as long as you do a bit of homework. Linux comes in many varieties and offers the user a wealth of choices as to what they can use. But you need to check their hardware requirements and what they support. The Linux kernel in it's pure form and current version supports plenty of hardware without any interaction required by the user.

But some distros or flavours of Linux may have modified kernels and are geared toward certain users or computers. So doing a hardware check is advisable. This is another great feature of the Live Cd versions available for many Linux versions. It allows you to try before you install.

I also believe that many of the concerns or confusion found in some users is the fact that they have never had to install an Operating System or the initial drivers as they were already pre-loaded into the computer they purchased.
I'd love to hear all the war stories about installing XP into a computer system that has Sata hard drives but no floppy drive! LOL!!
Linux has the Sata drivers available in the kernel image so during the install process your hard drive is detected and configured.

I hope this helps you in any future endeavors into Linux.
It's a sensible and straighforward OS that is user friendly.