Linux Stability Doubts

[Pman85]

Hey people!

I thought I would ask what everyones thoughts are around the stability of Linux.

Personally, having used Ubuntu and Linpus on my Acer One, I'm not 100% convinced it's as 'stable' as I would like to believe.

For instance, when using Windows, I am able to give it a really hard time and pretty much 99% of the time it works like a charm. However, when using Linux in the same manner, I've had many problems such as:

- Firefox stalling and becoming grey'd out (Ubuntu)
- RhythmBox stalling a few times whilst accessing a Windows share
- The desktop not loading and leaving me with a background and mouse pointer only (Linpus)
- The OS failing to boot at some random point, after using the system well for a few weeks (Ubuntu & Linpus)

Of course these issues may be distribution specific and not kernel related. I have been led to believe by many people/books that Linux is rediculously stable, hence its use in LAMP stacks for example, but I'm just not sure.

Thoughts?

 

[Pman85]

I have used Linux on a good number of hardware config's and the best experience was a factory built dell with pretty standard on-board features (Obviously no nVidia, ATi, Wireless issues).

Maybe I'm just not that lucky on the applications side of things. I must admit Linux has never actually 'fell-over' or stalled on me though, just a few niggles I don't seem to get with windows.

On the other hand, I love how it handles memory etc but the performance is a given these days I guess.

I'm pretty much after others experience with the OS since we all know how good it is now and what it has the potential to be.