Not so. You can install from either source or binaries in FreeBSD. Source is usually more convenient to upgrade, but binaries do help for the monsters like Gnome (or KDE) and OO.o. All of these are available from ports (see the FreeBSD site, or ask another question here).

I also don't understand the issue with boot times. I boot FreeBSD only when I have upgraded the OS (the kernel, userland and ports), and only since I am using the 6.0 branch at the moment is that more than a couple of times a year. Otherwise, it just keeps running and running and running...

The system is not perfect in the sense that Linux is not perfect: many applications are simply not available. But the core OS and many of the user programs are actually quite good for general-purpose desktop activities. I use it for the majority of my work, and that includes heavy-duty numerical and text processing. REALLY heavy duty, as in two-dimensional, time varying finite element analyses and complicated text (including chemical structures and the like) that would make Word choke.

There is a barrier to getting started with FreeBSD, as it is not particularly newbie friendly. It is all logical, thorough, and well-documented though, and once you get the hang of it, you won't want to leave.

For a user-friendly desktop installation, please check out PC-BSD or DesktopBSD. Both are FreeBSD with many helpful shortcuts for achieving a good desktop system. I know both systems and their developers, and can vouch for both.

DrJ