DE is short for desktop environment. Essentially it’s the type of GUI you use. GNOME and KDE are the most popular, but there’s many others.
GNOME is the most common, while KDE is more powerful, very customizable, and will feel more like Windows (for example, it has a taskbar similar to the Windows one).
I’d recommend looking at screenshots, then trying some live DVDs and seeing what you like best. A live DVD is a Linux system you can boot from a DVD and try out without installing it. IMO one of the best ways to try several desktop environments is by using Fedora, since they have a bunch of different desktop environments available (see https://fedoraproject.org/spins ).
For a brand new user, I’d recommend Linux Mint. It’s a good distro for beginners.
DE is short for desktop environment. Essentially it’s the type of GUI you use. GNOME and KDE are the most popular, but there’s many others.
GNOME is the most common, while KDE is more powerful, very customizable, and will feel more like Windows (for example, it has a taskbar similar to the Windows one).
I’d recommend looking at screenshots, then trying some live DVDs and seeing what you like best. A live DVD is a Linux system you can boot from a DVD and try out without installing it. IMO one of the best ways to try several desktop environments is by using Fedora, since they have a bunch of different desktop environments available (see https://fedoraproject.org/spins ).
For a brand new user, I’d recommend Linux Mint. It’s a good distro for beginners.