>>9
It's true in my case. Whenever I have to use windows, I have a harder time getting things done than when I use some of the "easy to use" linux distributions. Sure, switching to linux when you're familiar with windows is probably a lot harder. I'm not very familiar with windows *or* linux, so for me, ubuntu is easier to use than windows.
KDE didn't just rip off windows, it improved on a lot. Sure, I wish they would have based it on something better, but at least you can find what you're looking for using KDE.
The last time I booted ubuntu, it contained a lot of software. I'm glad it did and I didn't need anything else, because I'm agreeing with you on this point – installing software on Linux is a nightmare. A solution like the one Mac OS X uses would be really good. Drag and drop, everything you need packaged in one place.