I'd like something in between. Where you're still able to get your work done like you could as Administrator, but without Administrator's abilities to hose the entire system.
You could create that with a lot of group permissions tweaking in XP, or you could get it with a standard install of OS X. Hmmm, I wonder which is easier for 99.99% of users out there?
Nope. PC problems are more serious than administrator settings. PCs are cheaper. They generally use parts that fail more easily. I have seen many more screen failures, power packs, and battery failures on PCs than on Macs.
The notebooks I am referring to are not lab computers-- though I am familiar with that setting as well. The personal notebook computers of students do not work. Answers to my post show that if PCs are shared they become even more vulnerable. Macs have administrator settings which I do use. But even when Macs lack administration authorizations, they tend to fail and be corrupted less (in my 10 years of experience at this university).
IT support is in a racket with Windows/Microsoft-- let's admit it.
I am not even talking about software here. Microsoft Word is probably the only slightly interesting software that is generally useful. iTunes and various multimedia softwares from Apple blow the PC away or force it into anemic emulations.