Because Linux has fewer bugs than other platforms, and is designed to run in demanding environments for long periods of time, many Linux users run their systems 24/7 for months on end. This is particularly common among businesses who use Linux on their servers.
Linux users have reported uptimes of well over a year, on active, heavily-loaded systems. Uptimes longer than that are rare, not because of crashes, but because few users can resist upgrading their hardware for more than a year. Even so, the Linux kernel was recently modified to allow logging of uptimes beyond 497 days without wraparound. Compare this to the known problem that Windows 95 and Windows 98 cannot run more than 49.7 days, ever.
Microsoft admits that Windows NT is only about twice as reliable as Windows 95. A Unix server would be ashamed to post numbers like these.
One common hobby of some Linux users is running the "crashme" program for long periods of time. Usually they run until they give up. When a kernel bug is discovered, it is found and fixed.
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