A lot of users of redhat keep on talking about how great their RPM is and it will fill holes in your soul.

What does it really do? Is it really that great?

Does anyone here that use RedHat like rpm?

They probly talk about it alot, because its a bit easier and more automated to install a RPM than a .tar.gz/.tgz file.
i.e.:
rpm -i my_rpm.x86.rpm
will install an RPM.
But, most other Linux distros use RPM too... Except some notable differences are Debian which uses .deb, and Slackware which use .tgz.

rpms and debs are neat because they provide a single, standardized install process for all packages, which is what Microsoft is trying to do with their MSI system.

It means that if you know how to install one rpm, you know how to install every other rpm.

Actually, rpms and debs both suck unless you're using apt-get or apt-rpm. apt is the best way of dealing with system libraries that I know of.

yum is fairly useful

I hate rpms. I like to stick to my good old tar.gz and compile its myself (if its an option). Thats probobly because I am a Slackware user and have been for a long time. But I do have to say for the newb RPMs are nice.

OK... Newb question. Can someone give me a clear def of what an RPM is? Then tell me what it does? Thanks.

RPM is stands for Redhat Package Manager.
An RPM typically contains a programme, lib, docs, ect.
Normally, when installing software on a Linux/Unix[ish] machines one must gunzip it, tarball it, ./configure it, make it, and then make install it to get it to operate correctly, where as liek was said, simple 1 command is suffecient to install an RPM, plus RPM's check to insure that all dependancies required to run that software are already installed.

so an RPM is like a simple windows installation?

Yeah, sorta...auto installers are pretty much the norm in Windows...and an RPM is kinda like one for Linux I guess could be said.