Originally posted here by darkes
Surely this was the whole point of this thread ??
Most variants of linux are not simple to instal for your average home user.
On the other hand, a WinXP instal asks almost no questions, and just gets on with it.
Your "average home user" NEVER installs their operating system. Those that do will have to answer just as many questions on XP as they do on a Linux install if they opt for a "default/full" install. Linux isn't more difficult just because it offers choice and control over what gets installed IMO, it's simply different.

We could be into flame wars here, but I would question whether WinXP SP2 is significantly less secure than most of the linux distros out there for your normal home user
To compare SP2 to "most linux distros" is an inaccurate guage of security for several reasons. In similar configurations of both OSes WinXP will probably (just based on Windows' historical track record) turn out to be less secure, but no empirical testing has been done yet I don't think.

Obviously you need to add things like an AV scanner, but the WinXP SP2 firewall is very good.
No, it isn't. Comparatively to other firewalls out there, it's an acceptable input filtering firewall, but lacks many of the output controls.

Also, Windows is far easier to use than linux, so it still does have the edge when it comes to desktop software ....
Far easier to use? I think not. Again, that's a subjective measure.