Really?Nerds write bugs? are you saying on purpose? Again that is not reality, bugs usually come from poorly written code, in essence, the "nerds" not doing their job to the best of their ability allow problem code to slip by.
I don't think Microsoft does everything right. I wish they would write better code from the beginning and not get it mostly right and fix all the bugs they did not catch in hot fixes and service packs, but that is their business model and many software companies have addopted that model and have been very successful.
Your blanket statements are pretty appalling. Your use of words like "nerds" is derogatory. Your experiences are limited buy your inability or unwillingness to resolve problems, use reason and logic to understand how software and software companies do business.
You have a real chip on your shoulder there. If the Microsoft experience is so bad, go to another OS, and move on. Your bitterness will only hurt you in the end, your anger is evident, you need to move on so you can be at peace with yourself and computers.
Anger and bitterness are the dark path.. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will." 
Actually I was in the software development industry for 13 years and got more and more disgusted with it with each passing year. So if you have a problem with my so-called "blanket" statements then perhaps you should take your comments to Microsoft and tell them to stop creating an atmosphere where such a blanket statement can apply so well.
Though I think it's laughable that someone would defend the industry with such passion, I will address a couple things you brought up.
The first is your comments on the fact that people would migrate away from Windows if it was as bad as I suggest. If people would suddenly choose quality McDonalds would go out of business tomorrow. People don't always make quality the paramount factor when determining a product choice, and when it comes to the computer industry there are a number of reasons why people, like me, continue to stick with Windows. If the quality of Windows wasn't so poor those Mac vs. PC commercials wouldn't ring so true (FYI: I am not a Mac fanboy and it might be just as bad for all I know)
The second is that you
completely missed the boat on my XBOX 360 statement. The point is not how well Microsoft handled your specific problem, it's the fact that Microsoft allowed your problem to exist in the first place.
You said you bought a 360 for you and your nephews. I assume you are referring to two separate 360s since you later used the word "both". Here's my point: Within weeks of the release of the 360 reports of this bug were widespread. It persisted for years. This was clearly a design flaw but Microsoft did not fix the flaw in the design for years. And I know! I was sitting on the sidelines waiting for the design fix for a long, long time before I finally gave up. Go to IGN.com and read up on the reports of this problem (including their accounts of people who went through this process multiple times) Had Microsoft's customer support TRULY been great, they'd have immediately changed the 360's design for all units created thereafter, replaced any old 360s in store inventory, and recalled the remaining 360s after Christmas '05.
Instead, Microsoft clearly took their philosophy of software design and applied it to a physical hardware product and got burned bad. I forget the numbers, but I think the repair process cost them over a billion dollars. At one point they even ran out of boxes for the return units and yet they continued to refuse fixing the design of the 360!
THAT'S how engrained poor quality is within Microsoft's culture.
And another thing,
does it not bother you that you bought two of these things and both had the same fatal error? BTW: I believe the "good" service Microsoft provided was due precisely to what I mentioned before - fear of being sued. With such limited variations for the 360, it's hard for them to hide behind blaming the user or blaming hardware components like they do with PC bugs.
If you're the kind of guy who can let product defects and design flaws not get in your way of enjoying whatever product it is, then more power to you. But the problem with your attitude is that it encourages others to halfass their products. I don't know why the tech industry believes it should be exempt from the responsibility of quality products, but when I encounter things like this I often find ways to raise hell otherwise it's not going to stop.
BTW: Thankfully, I wrote this in Firefox because I wouldn't even have been able to IE8. In IE8 because text box often go haywire once the text exceeds the height of the text box. Let's see if IE9 fixes it.