hey guys, linux newb here. i just recently installed a copy of ubuntu as a dual boot on my PC. i have come to discover that installing software is somewhat different than with win XP. i was just wondering if anyone could give me some help as to how to do it because as far as i can tell you can't just download an .exe file and run the installation wizard like in windows. any tips are greatly appreciated.

Hi,
Because you are new to Linux, I suggest that you use autopackage (http://autopackage.org/) to manage and install the programs you want. It is the closest thing to a Windows executable. In my opinion, Ubuntu isn't the most newbie-friendly distro...I'd recommend SUSE Linux or Mandriva Linux. There are also a couple of other interesting distros that I haven't tried geared towards user friendliness. The one I am thinking of is SymphonyOS.
In terms of installing software, most software in Linux involves the Terminal - you would have to type commands in to install. The biggest problem is that programs in Linux are reliant with each other. In other words, say you wanted to install Package A. Package A needs Package B to install. So then you would need to dig up Package B from the internet. Then maybe Package B would need Package C, D, and E, and so on. And of course, these individual "parts" may not be very easy to find and download/install.
However, with the autopackage program I was recommending, these steps aren't necessary as everything is taken care for you. The only setback to this is that the amount of software available for autopackage is limited.

Very true. However, Ubuntu is based on Debian which has the excellent Apt tool for handling all of the dependency issues for you, and it is native to Ubuntu, unlike autopackage. Plus Apt is quite simple to use:

From the command line, just issue the command:
sudo apt-get install foobar
where foobar is a name of some software package that you wish to install.

Don't know what the software package is called? No problem! Just issue the command:
sudo apt-cache search foobar
where again foobar is the name of some software package or some term relating to it that you're looking for.

Want to update your system with the lastest security patches? Issue the command:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

If the command line isn't your thing and you want a nice graphical interface then there are several available for apt. The one that I like best is called Synaptic. You can install/search for/upgrade packages all without ever having to even touch the CLI.

If you're looking for a place to help you get going with Ubuntu, I'd highly recommend the unofficial Ubuntu Guide for 5.10:
http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu

It covers quite a few of the questions that most people new to Ubuntu want answered and it does so in a fairly simple step-by-step approach.

Hope that helps!

Oh, and by the way, welcome to the Linux community!

thanks for the help guys. i had already been told that i needed to use the terminal but i dont understand where i go to launch the terminal or the command line. how do i do that?

its in system tools somewhere - i don't know about ubuntu, but in fedora 4 its in the Applications menu under System Tools called Terminal.
Let me know where it is in ubuntu for me - i don't really know. I usually just find it once and create a shortcut on the panel because I use it so much...

Don't forget - Ubuntu also has the gui frontend to apt - Synaptic.

http://ubuntuguide.org/ has some useful how-tos.

Really? I never knew that...somebody should make one for Fedora...or is there one?

Yep, console in Fedora and apt-get install synaptic and yer rockin'!