An easier way to try linux on your Win box w/o the risk to spoil your installation trying to make it double boot is to use something like vmware or virtualpc and to install linux inside of it. Thus, you avoid the OSen
That's an idea, but if you only want to try it for a while I recommend starting with one of the Live CDs. Every distribution has one (Knoppix for Debian, Slax for Slackware, Mandrake Live for Mandrake, etc.) Just stick the CD in your drive and reboot, no need to install anything: the system will run from the CD and uncompress some key parts to a RAM drive, without touching your HDs. Perfect for a test drive, and the system will actually run at full speed, unlike a vmware/virtualpc solution.
LiveCDs are also excellent for security when you want to access email using another machine (hotels, etc.) Who knows how much spyware is installed at the WindowsXP copy running there? Stick your LiveCD in, reboot, and you are guaranteed a minimum of security.
In Tabuleiro all of our PC machines are dual boot, most with WinXP and Slackware. It is effortlessly to setup really IF you plan ahead, partitioning your disk from start (3 partitions: 1 for Windows, 1 for Linux and another smaller one for Linux Swap).
Discussing a "best" linux distro is an endless imbroglio, but for your first experience you can not go wrong with either Suse, RedHat/Fedora or Mandrake, due to the easier installation procedures. As Lee is a very experienced developer he will probably want to migrate to Slackware or Debian after a couple of months, as these are distributions where you have still more control, specially for development.
Regards, Mauricio
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