Why must Windows suck so?

I'm having a particularly nerd-tastic Saturday night. I decided to install Windows XP on my Mac Mini, mainly so I could take advantage of the new Netflix streaming movie feature.

Everything about Windows is so very ... unhelpful. Unwanted 'tips' are constantly popping up in these ugly balloons. Horrendously written and meaningless dialog boxes constantly appear (with horribly stupid options such as "Click here to learn why this is important." I guess no one at Microsoft thought: if it's important, we should tell users why initially).

And, no joke: The first message that greets you after an inaugural boot-up is a passive aggressive little bubble declaring, "Your computer might be at risk." Well, nice to meet you too.

I've successfully avoided Windows since, basically, 1995 when I ditched a crappy PC for a then-sexy Performa 6115 (marvel at its 8 MB of RAM and $10 estimated market value!). I keep hearing how much it's improved... I now (knowingly) beg to differ.

Windows is constantly asking me to install updates and restart. It's not possible, evidentially, to do so en masse. Nor, apparently, does the system favor transparency and honesty. I continually suspect its doing something in the background, out of sight, but I have no idea what (until a cryptic alert-balloon appears). It reeks of software designed by committee.

I've only spent 20 minutes with Windows XP, and I'm already sick of it. My singular goal (to watch movies from Netflix) has thus far proved unsuccessful. Suggestions from the Netflix help page said to uncheck some obscure preference box in Windows Media Player and then dig deep into the nether regions of my C: drive to rename a folder! And still, no luck.

Rant over for now. This will teach me to stay home on a Saturday night.