DSLR for total beginner?

I will have about $600 to work with. I was looking at Amazon and they had a couple different brands. Nikon, Sony, Canon.

I have no interest in using the camera professionally. I'm not overly worried about buying different lenses for quite a while. It will really just be used to taking pictures of my family and friends. I will want something very user friendly.

Added (1). Thanks for the answers so far. I guess by user friendly, I meant just not horribly complicated. I do intend to read the book cover and cover and experiment with the setting and things.
I have a point and shoot. I love taking pictures and would love to take professional grade pics of my family and friends.
What is a "bridge"?

First there are some things you need to understand.

Learning curve. To use any dslr effectively you have to learn to use it properly. Shooting full auto is an option but if you do that you'd might as well buy a point and shoot. There are so many different ways to set up a dslr to achieve the best technical quality it's capable of that reading the book cover to cover and doing lots of experimenting is really a must.

User friendly. What does that mean? Turn it on and shoot? That's why they call those cameras
point and shoot. User friendly to me means that when I know how to operate a piece of equipment properly it gives me all the ways to get where I want to go.

The kit lens is very usable but as you go along, if you get "serious" about photography, you're going to want more lenses. Canon offers the largest selection of lenses out there.

I own 3 digital cameras, a P&S, a "bridge" and a dslr. There's a learning curve with each. If you're willing to take the time to learn how to operate it, you'll enjoy your equipment much more than any
P&S camera.

I always recommend what I own and know.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/...S_SLR.html

For 600$, I recommend Canon EOS XS, XSi and Nikon D3000 and D5000.

All are user friendly and have same image quality. All come with the basic 18-55 kit lens and just differ in size, video or no video and small details.

Here's a post called 'Buying a DSLR, what's important, megapixels, features, brand, price, quality and which one to buy - http://www.the-dslr-photographer.com/2009/03/which-dslr-to-buy.html

The post has Amazon links, cheapest and best.

There are more tutorials, tips, reviews and guides on that site!

D3000 by Nikon is really nice. Why not get a point and shoot then? A DSLR has more features and quality, but it's kinda a waste is you don't know your way around.

I would recommend Nikon D3000.It is a good Digital SLR that very easy to use with Nikon Guide Mode which good for beginners.
http://www.amazon.com/...B002JCSV5I