I can kind of agree to that...
With Windows and Plug&Pray, it's just to reinstall Windows and the programs over and over again, and perhaps try different drivers, until things works. This also means that a Windows system can run without being 100% in order.
What I don't like about it is the unnerving thing that I never know if the system is fine or not. In Linux there is always a reason. So, if you know enough about the system, it's just a matter of changing some text files and things are in order.
Not implying that I know linux that well myself. I've just never gone through that repeated reinstall cycle, but rather searched desperate for non-existant hints on what I'm doing wrong...I guess the difference is that in Windows, the system might be doing something wrong, while in Linux you are likely doing something wrong. It's theoretically easier to correct yourself than the system, but it's even easier not to correct anything I guess.
Computers today are way too complicated anyway. They should have been consumer products, not some hacker tool. Why aren't text editors and web browsers as easy as gaming consoles? Why did the shitty i386 architecture get so widespread? We should all go and get ourselves some macs...
Of course, for us programmers this is all a great bonus as we get the incredible flexibility with it...
Joey: They are still viruses, but they are targetting the PC rather than Unix, so Unix has nothing to do with it. You can really call them BIOS viruses instead (though some of them does install themself in the hard disk boot sector and only uses the BIOS to perform the installation).
Idea for a cool virus: An email virus that patches Outlook on the end user system. The virus would have total control over the computers out- and ingoing email, and can replicate very easily with small chances of getting caught...luckily ILOVEYOU shut down the binary attachment door most places so it can't get around that easily anymore...if ILOVEYOU was coded smarter we would never have got rid of it...