Pleasantly surprised
There was a few times where I wanted to lend DVDs to co-workers, but since all those I have are region 1, I couldn't really do that. I figured I could rip them and lend those instead, but didn't really spend the time, expecting this to be a arduous process of figuring out DeCSS junk and what-not.
But no, I was quite pleasantly surprised by HandBrake, a GPL program that has everything worked out for you, end-to-end, with just enough control without flooding the user with countless knobs with which to screw up everything. Two thumbs up, highly recommended.