In my opinion Linux offers two main advantages over the usual competition, MS Windows and Mac OSX. First, it's free, open source, and community-based. This means it can be developed for a wider range of users and hardware, and doesn't lock the user in to certain hardware, upgrade paths, etc. Second, and related, when something breaks or doesn't work, the online forums and chat rooms offer a lot in the way of help. So even if you aren't an expert at writing software (I myself can barely write a script), you still get the advantage of everyone in the linux community who is.

That being said, one must realize the wisdom of the saying "Linux is only free if your time has no value" (Jamie Zawinski).