In my experience, proper crashes (although very rare except when badly configured) in Linux are frequently graphics driver problems as well, although I think he

In my experience, proper crashes (although very rare except when badly configured) in Linux are frequently graphics driver problems as well, although I think here ATI/AMD win with their terrible fglrx drivers. Both ATI's and nVidia's drivers cause way more problems in 3D mode than 2D, which might explain the quantity of Vista crashes: Aero Glass uses 3D acceleration. Generally, I suspect badly written drivers or drivers for two components that step on each others' toes are probably the main cause for OS crashes on any OS. One quibble I have with Linux itself is how it handles out-of-control processes that keep allocating memory. The X session crawls to a halt while the kernel swaps like crazy and you don't get a chance to kill -9 the process. ssh or console logins fail because they time out before you get the password prompt. Linux proceeds to kill off processes one by one, but keeps the amok process alive and tries to satisfy its insatiable hunger for memory... Ok, so it happens to me maybe 1-2 times a year, but when it does, it REALLY pisses me off. Especially as the amok process is usually caused by a bug in my code. :) I think the Flash plugin also had a bug like that a couple years ago.