I must say, since I've been using Linux again ( have been working with BSD's for about 5 years, had been working with a lot of RedHats before that ) I was struck by the ease of use and friendlyness of the Ubuntu group. I've used a lot of other Linux distributions since then and did not find any that was as simple as that.
If you are not to fond of Gnome, then try Kubuntu, it's KDE based
and wait for a few weeks, Kubuntu 6.10 will be out any time soon
Dimitri.