In my experience with my victims ... errr ... friends and family that I have introduced Linux to, it is not "favorite" Windows applications they want to run, it is rather the applications that they have learned the step by step methods for how they want to do their day to day stuff; as painful as those steps might be. It is also the applications that they have their data trapped in.

Easy data migration and similarity of application methodology are the two things that make it easier for people to migrate but they are two of the hardest problems to solve. It is difficult to emulate many different conflicting ways of doing the same things and to make data converters that transfer ill-defined formats perfectly.

But to get back to krisse's initial inquiry, there is no end of sites, mailing-lists, forums that will answer a newbie's questions in a welcoming fashion. However, I do find their advice to always end up suggesting a command-line to run in jargon-laden instructions because that is typically the most efficient means of fixing a newbie's problem or finding out where the problem is but not neceesarily the most efficent means of communicating with a newbie.

This is not much worse than the directions to newbies having issues with Windows though. It is typically along the lines of a mysterious shotgun approach in the following progression:
1) reboot and cross your fingers
2) update/reinstall your application you are having issues with
3) update/reinstall a driver
4) put in your initialization disk and wipe out everything back to the state the computer was in when first shipped
5) reinstall Windows

What is the newbie-friendly site for Windows users for which you are seeking a Linux analogue?