It works that way in Kubuntu. I don't get an icon on my desktop, but I get a
notifier in the top right and if I open the file manager it is available. I
have used Linux for over ten years on four or five different computers and
have never had to search for drivers. Not even once. In the past four years
usb devices have automounted and I have not had a single problem. I have a
Wacom tablet, e-reader, music player, camera, mouse keyboard, two scanners,
a slide digitiser, two printers, four external usb drives, dozens of usb
sticks, usb mulitreader, two usb DVD burners, and three usb hubs. It isn't
like I don't use usb. I rely on it.

I wish to point out that generally it works as you have described for XP,
only better IMO. If I want to use my Wacom tablet in Windows I need to
search for my driver disk and if I don't use it for awhile I need to
re-install the driver. I don't need a driver in Linux in any distro with a
recent kernel. I fail to see why Windows is held up as the gold standard.
This is FUD and is giving a false impression based on an old stereotype that
you are just recycling. You are generalising on one case that is far from
the norm. Linux users are as usb connected as anyone on any computer
platform and there is no reason to expect otherwise.

I understand that he is exasperated. I understand that you are trying to
help. But I think that you need to think of the implications of what you
write before you hit send. This is a Linux forum and I or someone else is
going to jump to Linux defense when outrageous statements are made. Send
him a private email if you want to advertise the virtues of XP and run down
Ubuntu. If you do it in public then expect a backlash. And I wonder why we
bang heads. I need to give my head a shake.