stang-I know the feeling. I myself was well versed in WinMo and felt lost as hell in the beginning. Once you get past the learning curve I think you'll find Android very easy.
Just an FYI-find a ROM you like, set it up ENTIRELY as you like it and back that up. Then you know you always have that to fall back on and you dont HAVE to backup before every flash. You always can, but dont have to.
Remember the backup is a complete copy of your ROM, not a way to transport data/settings.
For that you'll want to get a program like Titanium backup from the Market. There's a small learning curve with that as well but it's great for backing up/restoring apps, email, Sense settings, etc.
Once you shed your Droid n00b status
you can pull your data.img from your nand and use THAT to restore all your data. OMJ talks about it
HERE
The Android SDK OMJ mentions is not required to enjoy the hell out of your device but it is a great tool for going "behind the scenes". I've only scratched the surface with it.
Fast's Thank button is working now, just hit any of them, or more than one-he deserves it fo sho! =D>