What do you download YouTube videos with?

[Drying]

To expand on Liesje's answers:

Is it possible to run programs that were intended to be installed on a Windows system?

In general, it is possible, but you will not want to do so unless there is no other option. And there usually is another option. And this option is almost always free, faster and easier to install.

If so, is that very easy to do?

After you install Wine, it is not much different from a normal installation, except that some applications need some tweaks and some applications do not work at all. Do not expect to be able to run your games flawlessly in Wine.

I have often heard that Linus is free - but where can you get it for nothing?

It is free. It is generally distributed as software packages named distro's (distributions). These often have a lot of software bundled. This includes OpenOffice/LibreOffice, a kind of replacement for Office. The best distro's for beginners are already pointed out by Liesje. I would add Fedora, although I have never used it personally.

Are there any good resources or sources of information for Linux? Where?

Everywhere on the web. Just Google. If you need specific help, there are distro-specific forums. There are a lot of chatrooms (IRC) as well with helpful people to guide or inform you.

[DanceFan]

I also use Video Download Helper for FireFox, I believe it can download streaming media from other sites and not just YouTube. Also you always want to download the .MP4 version of a the video if it exists...this is the high quality version

I won't get into pointless arguments over operating systems, but I will say that I don't believe 'geek' is an insult anymore. I usually consider it a complement.

[PeePeeper]

@Drying

Thank you for your interest and help.