XP SP2 reboot problem - looks like microsofts fault

This past week I had my XP PRO sp2 system blue screen on me. I reboot,
worked for 10 minutes normally then froze. After that it wouldnt boot
anymore. Its a 3 year old computer so I figured maybe something
actually broke. After spending 3 straight days and about 7 trips to
the computer store swapping every part in the system, I finally bought
a second hard drive, reloaded windows XP on ANOTHER PC (that took
another 10 hours restoring all my stuff etc.).
Then I tried the new disk that works in the other PC and it doesnt work
at all
in the original box.

Next I put my reliable Fedora Core 4 OS hard drive in the 'bad' PC box
and
wallah, works just fine! NO PROBLEMS! After returning all the new
computer stuff back to the store because nothing seems to be wrong, I
realize that its
entirely the OS's fault (XP), NOT the hardware! Of course silly me for
not
trying the linux disk out in the first place, but somehow I *trusted*
XP was working right...how dumb was that?

Im just an amatuer with OS's. I dont like administration anyhow unless
I have to do it. In the last 15 yrs Ive probably spent 200-300 hours
reloading and trying to fix Microsoft OS failures, hangs, blue screens,
whatever the case was. Half that time I ended up having to reload the
OS, as in this case, to 'fix' the problem.

In that same time Ive probably only spent 15-20 hours debugging minor
unix/linux problems. The *ONLY* 2 reasons I have XP is that I use it
for
Word to publish books at this time AND I just started playing with C#
to
find more work (Im a contract software engineer in Unix for 12 years
now).

Unix in general has been out since I was in HS, back in 1980-84 and
sooner
I believe. Microsoft has been out since late 80's? not sure. In any
case,
LONG enough to have an OS after 20 years that doesnt blue screen, hang,
or force the user to reload the OS because they cant get the software
to
work or be secure! Why is there a security update approx. every week?
Yes, they work with many vendors, still they have billions of dollars
and
a HUGE company to SOLVE issues, not continue to propogate them year
after year
and OS after OS.

Linux seems to be pretty stable and isnt a 'company' as such. If you
bought
a car that the engine kept breaking, would you buy that same car or
brand
again? I wish more companies would write products compatable with
windows
(if/where possible) that ran on Linux. Id be supporting those
companies
far more than Microsoft who charges an arm and a leg for their software
and
can be a piece of junk if you have an issue. Ive had this system
running
for 3 years. I hardly reboot the thing (unless things get slow which
happens
a lot also with Microsoft OS's, not unix*s). Ive left my Solaris and
Linux
boxes up for months at a time before rebooting them. Never a problem.

In Microsofts defense, they have some nice software programs, the few
Ive
ever used. If they could only get things to work as a stable
package...
Maybe another 15 years when OS 2021 comes out...I wont hold my breadth.

Linux all the way.

Jeff, when you have a computer that just sits and does its thing ... you get
boored pretty quick. Microsoft adds excitement.