Ubuntu Users: tried EasyUbuntu?

There are still a lot of Ubuntu users out there who have not yet heard about EasyUbuntu, a small Python-based GUI applet that allows for convenient and painless installation of features that are commonplace on Windows machines but for legality reasons are not included in the default Ubuntu install. This includes restricted formats such as Windows codecs, non-free codecs (particularly MPEG, including MP3), DVD decryption to allow for DVD playback, and Sun's Java Runtime Environment and Macromedia Flash Player for Linux (including embedding these in Firefox for you).

See http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/ for more details. Note that not all these packages are technically legal depending on your region (e.g., the US). [obligatory legality clause] Install them at your own risk. I am not responsible for any legal repurcussions. Blah blah blah. [/obligatory BS]

I don't recommend installing the NVIDIA or ATI binary drivers through EasyUbuntu, and recommend following the Ubuntu Binary Driver HOWTO instead. I also would not recommend the "embed Totem in Firefox" option, because of the following recommendation. The default Totem (totem-gstreamer) cannot play DVDs; this is remedied by installing the package "totem-xine"; you can embed totem-xine in firefox by also installing "totem-xine-plugin". Other than that, everything is superb.