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Okay, let's play...

but I can't buy them cheaper without it so... it didn't cost me anything that I could have recovered.

Yes, you can. Got to http://mwave.com and you can configure a machine and save $$ by NOT buying an OS.

Yes. It isn't configured correctly but... I can't figure out how to configure it correctly. I've been working with microcomputers since the first CP/M Altos.

I don't care how long you've been 'working on computers', if you don't know what you're doing, stay away. RTFM and all that. 'man' pages. Read the "How-To's" that are out there. The information is free and easy to find.

I'm NOT running a server. I don't care how well it works on a server. That is completely and utterly irrelevant to me.

So why are you running it? To sound 1337? So you can check out the groovy desktops? What do you want to do? Linux may not be the answer.

It IS slow and it DOES take more resources to run than WIN2K.

This is so insane, I don't know where to begin. The only thing I can imagine is that you turned everything on when loaded it. Your probaby have more services running than you know what to do with. The Linux core requires precious few resources. I believe the last kernel would still run on 486s! And there are still versions that run on 386 machines.

It DOES crash. Win2k didn't.

Linux does not crash. It can hang. You can get kernel panic. But if it freezes, you can hit ALT + F2 and open a new terminal and su in and kill whatever processes where going on in your first session.
Your lack of knowledge on this and your assertion that Win2K 'never crashes' are the biggest load in your whole post. It may not have crashed for your yet, but it will. Because it does. And Win2K is the least likely to do this. But it still will.

I don't know what the heck FUD is, but all I'm spreading is the facts as they happened to me.

FUD == Fear Uncertainty Doubt
You don't know what you're doing and discouraging others, possibly less foolish than you, from trying.

I have a T1 line, but downloading 2 gigabytes is ridiculous even with that capability. Three different FTP sites have crashed while I was downloading. Perhaps Redhat's FTP sites are slower and less reliable than some, but the download would take most of a day at the speed they fed my lines.

Red Hat caps the speed of downloads. Use a mirror. In fact, Red Hat makes this exact point on their site.

I should be able to install a good operating system without a hundred hours of experimentation and manual reading.

Stay away from Linux. If you're not prepare to even read the download instructions on Red Hat's site, you won't be able to get anything to work.

Here's what I do know. I buy Windows machines and hook them up. They work.

Port 139 is exposed. They work for crackers, too.

I'm a college professor. I teach Business Computing.

So, you're not a computing professional. That explains a lot.

Look, I can recommend some good books and websites. But, like I'm sure you tell your students, if you don't do the work, you're not going to get the results.
Download a copy of Mandrake. That's the easiest and you can say you 'run Linux' since that sort of thing matters to you. (CP/M on Altos indeed).
But don't make up statements about resources on crashing. If somebody who didn't know how to drive bought a car and crashed it would you blame Dodge?