Maybe that's true for MythTV, but for most programs Ubuntu has the simplest install/uninstall process in the world. In fact, its package manager is the "killer app" for me that makes me dread using other operating systems. If I want a new program, I just go to the "add program" menu, search for the program by name or browse by category, click a box, and wait for it to install. To uninstall the program, I just unclick the same box. There are no shortcuts to missing or moved programs, no cluttered desktops, no mystery programs that don't show up in the "add/remove software" menu. It's slick.
Of course, you've stated that you haven't used Ubuntu, which just happens to be the most popular Linux distribution in the world, so you and I can both agree that your experience is incomplete.
As for Linux... I posted something like this earlier; if you can't learn to use your software, then you're going to have to pay someone to write easier-to-use software. You act like it's the end of the world that software you didn't pay for doesn't work exactly like you want.
I don't think there's anything wrong with Linux being hard to use for the average Joe, and I certainly wasn't complaining about it. You're totally missing the point. The original quote was "If you can use Windows, you can use Linux." For 99%+ of the population this is untrue. Any moron can get around Windows with no prior instructions. They might not be editing the registry, but they'll be able to download and install programs. Not so with any Linux distro I've ever seen (haven't used Ubuntu yet).
"Any moron can get around Windows with no prior instructions." Really not true. How often do people search and search for the right sub menu to change some hidden setting? What about the constant registry issues not to mention viruses etc
99% of the population don't download and install programs. Sorry, but they don't. So your argument makes no sense. For 99% of the population, as long as they can run firefox, office prog + email, they're all set. In which case Windows, Linux, OSX all work for the average joe.
Everyone under 50 uses bittorrent or emule or something to pirate music. Do those programs come installed?
Everyone under 50 uses instant messenger. Is AIM installed by default? How about Skype?
People do plenty of program installation.
Totally untrue. Give a Windows machine to someone who doesn't know anything about computers, and watch them fail. My parents bought a nice (~$3500) computer in 1998 and I set it up for them. From then on, Handholding Central. My dad couldn't figure out much on his own, and his wife was only a bit better (and only because she'd used a Windows machine at work sometimes).
When they decided that they needed to upgrade in 2006, I strongly recommended a Mac Mini to them. They bought that, and it took about 2 hours of instruction for them to know their way around, and I get a LOT fewer calls now.
Just an anecdote, but the point is that the fact that you've learned so much about Windows does not mean that Windows is naturally easier to figure out. My own switch, in 2003, was much more difficult, but that's partly because I was coming from Gentoo, and there were things I used all the time that couldn't be exactly duplicated ("select to copy" is something I still miss).
You do all of your installing and uninstalling from one application, called "Synaptic Package Manager" in Ubuntu. It works really well as long as you figure out you need to launch Synaptic to install anything.