Stability, speed, options on browsers (not integral in OS). For most things there are really great apps freely downloadable. Now, that sounds like "cheap", but what open source really means is less complexity. If you don't have to worry about licensing processes, software is just simpler and generally more stable. Win/Win without Windows.
windows xp can only utilize 3 gigs of ram. Does ubuntu have a similar memory cap?
Windows 7 is very stable. There won't be any advantage for Linux there.
...speed...
Have you compared the two, apples to apples? I would be very surprised if there is any significant speed difference between them in real-world, home use.
...options on browsers (not integral in OS).
??? There are more different web browsers available for Windows than for any other O/S. Can you name any significant browser that is available only for Linux?
If you don't want to use IE, then don't. You're not forced to run it.
For most things there are really great apps freely downloadable. Now, that sounds like "cheap", but what open source really means is less complexity. If you don't have to worry about licensing processes, software is just simpler and generally more stable. Win/Win without Windows.
Same thing here. What open-source apps are you looking for that are only available for Linux?
You seem to have bought the generic litany of supposed advantages of Linux over Windows, but many of them are just not applicable any more.
The differences you list, for example, really aren't differences today. They were certainly differences in the Windows 95 era.
The two significant advantages Linux holds over Windows are these: It's free; Windows may either be effectively "free", in that you pay for it when you buy a PC, or it costs around $100 if it didn't. Second, it's still somewhat more secure, though realistically Windows is pretty good now too. With security software -- which can be obtained for free, even from Microsoft -- it's very good.
Here are a couple of advantages Windows has over the xNIX world:
1. Device support - Because Windows is by far the most commonly used O/S, any given computer peripheral you might find will probably have at LEAST a Windows driver. Not so for Linux, as the discussion about wireless networking illustrated.
2. Application selection - For the same reasons, if there is software written, it is more likely to be written for Windows than for any other system. For any given software category, there will be more choices that run on Windows than any other platform.
So, there may be some philosophical/pseudo-religious reasons to hate/avoid/detest/fear Microsoft and Windows, but as a practical matter you will probably spend more in time, frustration and effort to make a Linux machine do what you want/need than you will save in the cost of Windows.
Both Linux and Windows are quite good today. One will require you to spend more time in the guts of it than the other. How much is your time and patience worth?