Office Suite
Anyone that uses Windows knows Microsoft Office. Word, Excel and Powepoint are probably the most common software under Windows. But Microsoft, without surprise, don't published a Linux version of their popular office suite. So, under Linux, you will have to turn to alternative office suites.
The one that's closest to MS-Office is Open Office (or Star Office in its commercial version). You will need a short adaptation but moving from MS-Office to Open Office is very easy, the two suites being quite similar. The biggest difference between them being the price: hundreds of dollar or euros for MS-Office while Open Office is free. Open Office will allow you to import/export documents in the MS-Office format. It works well for simple documents but isn't always perfect for complex ones having unusual formatting or embedded objects. If you have important documents to send to MS-Office users, it may be a good idea to check them in MS-Office to be sure that everything is OK. If you don't exchange documents with MS-Office users, you may quite easily do all your work with Open Office. Since it's also available for Windows, you may try it to see if it covers your need before moving to Linux.
If, like most peoples, you don't need all the power of a full featured office suite like MS-Office or Open Office, you may well fall in love with KOffice . It's a lightweight office suite that has all the features needed by a home user. You don't lose your time searching things in endless menus offering you features you don't need and will never use. KOffice certainly worth at least a try, you may well be surprised!
Photos and pictures editing
If you're a Photoshop user under Windows, you will have to use GIMP under Linux. It's a very powerful image manipulation software. It may not be as intuitive as Photoshop and will require some time to get used to. But once you'll know where things are, there's not much you can do in Photoshop that you can't do in GIMP. This software is also available for Windows, for free. So, you may try it before moving to Linux to see if it covers your needs.
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