The reason behind your statement is quite plain: Microsoft has a lot of money and a lot of influence. They can afford to buy the information about different peripherals whereas many Linux drivers wait until an enthusiast with enough knowledge to write a driver either finds some way of getting the relevant information or until the manufacturer is encouraged to write a driver. And Microsoft has the industry cowed into believing that they only need to write drivers for Windows - that a "Windows XP Approved" logo (or whatever) sells more widgets than a similar Linux "certification".

I've seen an XP install bork out on perfectly reasonable hardware, and it install smoothly and still get CoolWebSearch hacked within a week; and I've seen it work flawlessly. I can also say the same thing about various distributions of Linux.

Have fun,

Paul