Ubuntu

Ubuntu is the most widely used GNU/Linux operating system in the world, and is widely regarded as being the easiest to configure and use. Sadly Ubuntu ships with the plague that is Unity, along with Amazon Spyware built right into the search tool. Luckily all of this can be painlessly removed, and you can be left with an easy to use operating system that respects (most) of your freedom, and isn't impossible to use or maintain.

Getting Ubuntu

Ubuntu comes in several different versions, the most popular as of this writing being 12.04, which can be found here.

Removing Amazon Spyware from Unity

sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping

this does not work for newer versions.

Replacing Unity

Purging Unity from 12.04.3 LTS

To install the Cinnamon Desktop Environment (A GNOME 3 Fork):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install cinnamon