Also, if you corrupt one filesystem you don't necessary trash all of your work. Especially if you corrupt the root filesytem all you need is to reinstall the OS and all of your data is still intact without having to mess with your backups.
For the most part however people have decided that slicing up your disk into multiple partitions isn't worth the hassle anymore, and almost all distros just dump everything on a giant /.
It used to be scary on debian, but there's now a non-scary one starting from the etch release (Debian 4.0). The new UI is quite clear and comfortable to use, even in the "expert" mode.
For the most part however people have decided that slicing up your disk into multiple partitions isn't worth the hassle anymore, and almost all distros just dump everything on a giant /.