As for Linux working out of the box:
I've been working with Linux for about 8 years now. (15 years if you consider it's mother - Unix).
With all the distros I've used - some more difficult than others to get to work out of the box - I can unequivocally state that
Mandriva Linux is by far the most prone to doing so. Most, if not all, codecs are loaded by default, most hardware is correctly identified on load, etc.
If anyone out there is in the process of considering a Linux distro to use, definitely give Mandriva Linux a test ride.
No, I do not work for Mandriva!!!! Just a happy user.