I have been running Red Hat since version 5.2.
Wine is OK, but don't expect any miracles. It works for some programs but not all, and it takes FOREVER to launch programs with it, but when you absolutely need to run a windows program it is OK. Much better to find a native alternative.
Speaking of Wine check out the crossover plugin to play those quicktime trailers in Linux at www.codeweavers.com costs $20 the free version stinks as it plasters annoying messages all over every 5 seconds or so. They also have a nice Wine package that might be a bit nicer than what you get at winehq.
Use Vmware, www.vmware.com if you seriously need to run Windows apps in Linux. It basically runs windows in a window on your Linux desktop. It is $300, so probably a bit easier to just dual boot.
Try out Openoffice www.openoffice.org or StarOffice 6 beta Link Removed (comercial version of Openoffice). I love them both, wish I could switch to it at work instead of using MS Office. They are both free.
You should have the Gimp on your installtion CD, probably was installed by default. That is an excellent Photoshop clone, not quite as powerful, but still quite good, check it out.