I have use windows for a long time and now I want to get linux .

I will like a easy to use frendly GUI that supports multimedia and video editing.

One that has alot of support and works well with other software and hardware.

Start by testing out a few of the live CDs from the major distributions.

Hi nec207! How do you do? Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org.
As a recent Linux user myself, I would indicate Ubuntu as the operating system that fullfills your needs.
Ubuntu has a very active community and there are lots of repository packages out there for almost everything you may think of. Ubuntu uses the GNOME desktop environment, that I find very friendly. Anyway, as you've been a Windows user, you may feel more comfortable using Kubuntu, which is a Ubuntu based distro that uses the KDE desktop environment, and it's menus resembles somehow the Windows' ones.
There are lots of other GNU/Linux distros that might suit your needs. There's Debian, LinuxMint, Gentoo, CentOS, openSUSE and many others. A good thing to do is to try their Live versions, so that you can experiment with them without having to install.
That's it for now.
Best regards
darthpinguim

Also, the GUI is independent of the operating system. Instead it sits on top of it.

Ubuntu historically has come with Gnome as the default (the new version is defaulting to Unity, but my updates haven't come down yet).*

You can use any GUI on any distro. I have both KDE and Fluxbox installed on this computere along side Gnome and normally use Fluxbox.

Slackware comes with KDE plus about six other window managers out of the box--you can switch back and forth as you wish.

Any major distro should meet your requirements as regards multi-media. I second the suggestion to try a few Live CDs and then pick the distro that feels most comfortable for you.

As regards editing multi-media, check out the Slacker media site. It's oriented towards Slackware, but the information about recommended multi-media applications in the pdf should transfer to any Linux distro. The author of the website is a professional multi-media person.

_______________

*When Ubuntu put Unity on my netbook in a new install of netbook remix last year, I used it just long enough to install Fluxbox and configure it up. I was not impressed with Unity.

Are you saying I have to find OS for Linux like Ubuntu or Kubuntu than find a GUI like GNOME or KDE that runs on top of the OS? So I need to find a OS that supports multimedia and video editing.

And If I get OS I can have more than one GUI if I like? So if I get Ubuntu I can use GNOME and KDE .
I thought Ubuntu was moving to more Mac OS X look and feel has some people say Ubuntu was looking a little Mac OS X look and feel .

Now I hear Unity is taking them over with new look and feel per post above.

No. You don't need to find an OS and later find a GUI. When you get one GNU/Linux distro it already comes with one GUI.
As I said before, Ubuntu comes with the GNOME desktop environment as default, but you can install another GUI if you like such as KDE, Fluxbox etc.
Anyway, I would recommend trying some Live CDs so that you feel the distros by dafault. Later on you can customize it you way.
Best regards
darthpinguim

I think you are confusing some things. I hope I can clarify this.
Any Linux OS that comes with a GUI ( and that are almost all) will give you the basic things you need for multimedia: a sound and video system. If you want to do multimedia and video-editing you will have to install the appropriate applications (if they don't come pre-installed). This is also possible with almost all distributions.

As said above, almost all distributions come with at least one desktop environment pre-installed. And yes, it is possible to install as many desktop environments (DE) or window managers (WM) as you like.
For example, currently Ubuntu comes with Gnome pre-installed. It isn't really a standard Gnome, they have tweaked it a bit to a more MacOS X-like look. In the next version Ubuntu will switch to Unity as standard desktop. But at anytime you can install any other DE or WM you like and use that instead or switch between them. In fact, Ubuntu comes in different flavors, besides the normal flavor there are Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (XFCE) and Lubuntu (LXDE).
And it comes even better, you don't have to stick with one DE, you can mix them. I, for example, use the Slackware distribution with XFCE as DE, but I also use applications from KDE in XFCE, for example k3b to burn CDs/DVDs or Okular to read PDF documents.

I hope that you understand it a bit better now.

Do you know of a web site that shows screenshots of different Desktop environment /GUI where I can pick the one I like .

I personally wouldn't choose a DE from a screenshot. It is not only that they look different, they also behave different. The best way to find out which DE you like is to actually give them a try. Besides that, the most distros tweak the look of at least their standard desktop a little to more "corporate identity". You can do that yourself, as you can see here.
For screenshots of the standard looks of the DEs you should visit their websites.

I'd suggest LXDE, it's very lightweight and I think it's also windows-user-friendly. Back when I started I was using KDE 3, which in my opinion was much better than Gnome, despite of not being as popular. It's slightly more similar to the windows' interface, but the main reason was KDE's file manager, konqueror, which is very good, much superior to windows explorer and gnome's nautilus. Now it's KDE 4, I haven't used it, so I can't really recommend it over Gnome, but that's probably what I'd use if KDE and Gnome were my only options for some weird reason.

LXDE does not come with konqueror, but with pcmanfm, wich is also very similar to the old (XP and older) windows explorer, and also much better than nautilus. But you can use pcmanfm on gnome, or even konqueror on gnome, even though the latter implies in installing most of kde just for the sake of a single program.

As you get a bit used with linux, I'd suggest the combination of LXDE with some stuff from KDE just to run konqueror, I think it worths the disk space, even if you never use actual KDE sessions.

Firt I never like the windows vista and windows 7 GUI , and windows XP not bad.And windows 98 GUI the best .


Hope this helps with pointing me to close GUI I like.

The problem is that just looking at screenshots wotn help you much. The different distros having different GUI setups, it can look quite different comparing the same desktop from distro to ditro.

But here is my basic rundown for now-

Gnome 2.X ('classic')- dont btoher. Good desktop, lots of users, but gnome 2.X s going to die now. Not much point getting used to gnome for a new user.

Gnome 3.X- to new, still buggy. Probably not what you are looking for at all anyway. Dont bother.

KDE4.X- good desktop again, but its probably not your thing. Doesnt really look like vista/win7 that much, but its got a lot of the same sorts of desktop effects as those windows versions.

LXDE- meant to be a 'lightweight' desktop. Not my thing, it feels plastic, and doesnt look that good. Outclassed by XFCE, IMO anyway.

XFCE- another 'lightweight' desktop. Simple, fast, easy to use, and probably what I would go with considering what you have said.

Fluxbox- very lightweight, feels a bit clunky to me. Proably worth a look.

BTW, I use XFCE and KDE4 myself. So you can take my "try XFCE" as baised.

Its worth remembering that with almost all distros, you can install multipule desktops. So you can always start of with XFCE, try LXDE and fluxbox, and if you prefer one (you will!) its pretty easy to remove the desktops you dont want.

I would think the easiest way to get a somewhat Windows 98 feeling would be to start with LXDE and tweak it to a Win 98 look. The behavior of the DE is somewhat similar.
A good starting point for you would be the Lubuntu distribution, it has LXDE pre-installed and can use all the software from Ubuntu, so that you won't have any problems to find applications for multimedia and video-editing.

Check also Ubuntu studio, the distribution specialized in multimedia editing.

From what I was reading IceWM ,LXDE ( Lubuntu) , EDE or Trinity Desktop Environment get close to windows 98 look and feel.