That might have been true years ago, but ever since the advent of multi-core processors and Windows operating systems built to take advantage of them, that is no longer the case. You're still thinking of the old days of Windows, when it barely had a right to call itself an operating system at all; no ability to multi-task, zero network security, very poorly optimized (bloated), more flaws and holes than a block of Swiss cheese... that began to change 10 years ago with the advent of Windows 2000 and XP. Cut to today's Windows, which while still as bloated as ever, it is no longer the multitask lacking, security unconscious bug factory that it used to be. Granted, some of that improvement has more to do with advances in hardware, rather than the OS, but all operating systems have benefited from those same advances in hardware equally.

I have also not found this to be true. Or at least no more true than it is on a Mac. Was the PC you were using a work PC? Or otherwise poorly maintained?

You're the exception rather than the rule (and as an aside, I personally thank you for that).
In my experience with many platforms, of course there are jerks everywhere, but the Linux ones are the worst both in quantity and volume. "RTFM" didn't seem to be commonly in use before Linux forums popped up. And that's not (usually) the devs saying that, it's users who feel they've "earned their stripes" by doing things the hard way, and everyone else should too.
* Note, things seem to be a bit nicer in the Ubuntu camp, probably because the nature of the distro.

I would say you've been dealing with the wrong Linux users and those that you have dealt with are deeply in the minority. I never would have gotten to the point where my Linux knowledge is useful to others if it wasn't for a whole hell of a lot of other Linux users giving me a whole hell of a lot of help in the past. I belong to a few different Linux user groups both online and in my local area and you will not find a more generous group of people outside of charity work.
Blaming "RTFM" on Linux is just ridiculous. That term has existed in engineering circles for decades, long before the advent of the internet or Linux and even then it was certainly used in far more places than just Linux forums. The first place I ever saw it was on a game forum much like this one.
Yes, there will always be jackasses who use Linux, but to characterize all or even most Linux users as assholes is just as bad as the "trendy elitist" characterizations of all Mac users and the "stupid luser" characterization of all Windows users. None of them are right or accurate and really only reflect the most extreme examples of each group, not the majority.

Yeah I think you're still misunderstanding me. But seriously, I've been around Linux a LONG time (I think I might have gotten my first copy via gopher). I'm not making this up...
Well, here's a single example. *Between my last post and this one*, I was looking for some info on how to stop video tearing on my newer ATI-driven MythTV box - my old machine with an nVidia was just fine (of course). Annnd I come across this: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-desktop-74/amd-hd-series-graphics-guide-optimizing-video-playback-for-mythtv-mplayer-and-others-786335/ the first few paragraphs defending himself for being rude and offensive? Excuse me?
He then goes on to provide a boatload of good information, of course, but come on...
I wasn't looking for posts to illustrate my point, it's just they're way, way too easy to find.

Wait, a post by a "Linux expert" explaining how a "noob" reacted badly to solid advice as well as detailed instruction on what would fix his issue is evidence that the Linux community is filled with jackasses? That might be considered evidence that those ignorant of Linux are jackasses, but not the other way around.

If you see a guy using a mac, complement him on his "nice Apple PC" just to see how he reacts.

Well, since we're on the topic of Linux....

I remember using Red Hat Linux 9 for about two months then the fact that Java never worked properly and there were NO GAMES got me back on the Windows train.

Games are the one thing that keeps me dual-booting Linux and Windows. There are [url=http://gwos.org/doku.php/games:start]tons of games for Linux[/url], but almost none of them are "name brand" games and most of the ones you will find are poor copies of much better games. Wine is getting better at running Windows games on Linux, but until I can get every game I own to run on Linux in some way, I can't ever commit to it 100%.

D2X-XL, FreeSpaceOpen, even the commercial demo of Descent 3 run incredibly well (i.e. much better performance than I could get out of Windows). If you can get ahold of the last one.

Silly thread.
For some, price trumps all other considerations. Others prefer to spend extra money for their own reasons--convenience, aesthetics, whatever. When I was in college, I ate a lot of ramen and lived with a bunch of guys. Now, not so much. Priorities change.
In 5-10 years some of you will be out of college and have decently paying jobs. When that time comes you may find that OS X meets more of your needs for a desktop than Windows or Linux. Macs are certainly sufficient for many of the experienced software engineers on my team (others use Ubuntu... one uses Windows). Shrug. Eclipse is multi-platform.

I guess you could say I used to dual boot Windows just a few days ago, but after messing around with FreeDOS to install from the live cd to a usb drive so I could update my BIOS, and I formatted C:, which was apparently my Windows partition...
I'm way too lazy to bother reinstalling Windows 7. Installing it the first time was painful enough.
The installer was slow as balls and wouldn't let me layout the partitions the way I wanted to; at least until I outsmarted it.
I can get enough games running well enough in Wine to not care about Windows anymore.

Red Hat 9? Thats for servers... and it costs money. Of course it does nothing. If you know what your doing, Linux does everything. Go get Slackware :P