Where does Linux stand today?

I have been running Windows last 7 years and I didn't have a single crash or virus infection. So, it depends on how one uses his/her computer. Of course I am a techie so that helps. I first installed Red Hat in 1999 and after that Ubuntu just earlier this month. Linux still has a long way to go. You Linux is just too much configurable and that would take its toll on average user. If you don't have Internet, forget that you can do anything with it and still keep it running.
There are 2 package managers on my system and one doesn't know what the other has installed. How do you install plug-ins for your browser, is it even close to how it works on Win. Or think about editing conf files manually or even to 'make'. Wow, its like Windows telling you to compile C code to make it work!

I am not bashing Linux or favoring Windows. I am just saying that there are zealots on the Linux side who are claiming left and right how infallible and Utopian Linux is. It is not. Someday it may be on par with Windows. Not today.

And the day it becomes as popular as Windows is today, only then you should compare how safe it is against viruses.
Today, it might seem safer but that's at the cost of usability. Linux is great for techies, who like to experiment with their system. Average users want a system that does all things a Windows system can do, out of the box.

Desktop going slick for what?

With Visa going all slick and translucent with 3D rendering of windows and Linux
following suit and matching Microsoft, My question is simple... WHY!!!
What is the usefulness of these new adonrments. Really, are they anything more than attractive packaging. How do they make the computer more usable? And to top it off, they also need better (read expensive) hardware like memory and grpahics capabilities. Also hog the CPU. For what? Just so that the title bar is transparent, or you can see a window in 3D. Or that your desktop looks good. Really, how does that make you more productive? Unless you have a weird habit of ogling at your desktop, and you are concentrating more on how the windows' look than what they contain.
Give me a better word-processor, I can live with Win 95 decorations.