It always puzzles me to see posts like this, because I feel pretty much the same way... but about IE. I don't know if I'm just not doing intense enough shit with my computer, or what the fuck, but I've had IE6 on my computer for as long as I can remember, and I've never had a problem with it, ever.
Same with ME; I've heard all kinds of horror stories about ME, but I had it on my computer for four years before I finally upgraded to XP, and it never crashed once.
And not for nothing, but tabbed browsers are the single-most overrated thing in the history of web browsing, IMO.