The ease/difficulty thing really varies with your expertise and computer education. Windows is common for a long list of reasons, one of which being that it's very simple for people to do more while knowing less. For example, stuff is easy to install and uninstall, but the price you pay for that is a computer generally used in administrator mode and hence, the door is wide open for malware of all sorts (and also open for people to peddle anti-everything software). As my expertise grew I transitioned from DOS/Windows to Linux (Slackware). I felt good about DOS for a while, then liked Windows and got complacent with it. But it didn't take me long to go from complacent to antsy, and I started experimenting with alternative OS's. Even after a few years experience, I still feel I've only hit the tip of the iceberg with Linux, while at the same time it's never really been a problematic operating system for me or my family.
The main reason people whine about Linux's perceived difficulty is not because it's really any tougher than Windows, it's because most users come from a Windows world. I'll call it 'differenticulty'. Windows and Linux just aren't the same. They have their ups and downs, and I tend to find the ups of Linux more appealing. Some distros, like MEPIS, can install the proper graphics drivers before the user ever runs the OS off the hard disc. I like the unintrusive way most distros update packages: they don't unless you say so. In fact, with Slackware and Debian too I'm sure, NOTHING happens unless you goddamn say so. In flies the differenticulty. Windows does a hell of a lot of autoconfiguration. Many Linux distros can, too, but many don't. Personally, I like computers to do what I want, not think or act for me.
Obviously, people don't like change, and experienced Windows users like those on this board think they'll have a similar level of understanding with Linux out of the box. They install Linux once, 'fail' to meet their overly ambitious expectations, come back on AT and bitch. Honestly, to those who've done this, what were you expecting? You were probably totally new to the *nix world, as everyone once was, and nobody ever gets any OS right off the bat. If you give it a chance, give it a proper one or just shut up. Take some time. Be ready to learn, and be ready to ask our very helpful *nix people like n0cmonkey, drag, and bersl2 for help. If you're not ready, go with what you know, enjoy what you're doing, and quit posting flamebait. You're the users Linux doesn't really serve, anyway.