I tend to disagree with you. I have been using lynksys for ten years. Just upgraded to wireless N. I get great speeds, and reliability, but setup is somewhat advanced for a user who is not up to speed on routers and security protocols. A group of computers running different OS’s can often cause one to blame the router, when it is really a non-compatibility issue or channel interference because everyone in the area has the same router schemes..
I haven't had a problem with that (using Linksys).
Right now we have (2) W2k Pro machines, (1) XP Home machine, (1) XP Pro machine, (1)Vista home machine and (1) Ubuntu Linux machine running fine on a router and switch.
For the most part, it was "plug and play".