I'd add d6 Star Wars, since it's apt to be a familiar setting, the mechanics are simple but still allow you to throw a fun handful of dice regularly, and the template-based character generation is also decently easy for an RPG newcomer to get through. Physical copies might be a bit hard to come by this decade, but there's a very nice fan compilation/update by "REUP Team" or something like that, which (for the first time as far as I know) also includes a system for constructing and modifying droids, though I disagree with some elements of it.
(Looks again more closely, notices dates on the old posts) Oh... well... snap. I still think it's a good choice to introduce a newbie to gaming, especially if they aren't necessarily into the swords and sorcery thing. Starting in something with its visuals as strongly ingrained in the culture as Star Wars makes the whole "your imagination is the FX budget" thing an easier step to get past.
(Looks again more closely, notices dates on the old posts) Oh... well... snap. I still think it's a good choice to introduce a newbie to gaming, especially if they aren't necessarily into the swords and sorcery thing. Starting in something with its visuals as strongly ingrained in the culture as Star Wars makes the whole "your imagination is the FX budget" thing an easier step to get past.