It's like with Windows 95 and bluescreen, now we are into Windows 98, where everything is stabile, but not yet to SE where new problems start to crop.
My friend has had RRoD twice and it's not really a recurring problem, either your Xbox has a rare heating issue or permanent flaw or it's a one time crash down, both happen about as frequently as CTD in Windows XP. There's actually three types of red rings: when two parts of the full ring appear it means a A/V-cable problem(plug is loose), when it's 3 of 4 there's a heating problem and the third one is apparently a general crashdown, but I can't remember the amount of lights in that one. There's a documentation in the web for all this.
In a nutshell, it's a system for the console to show what is wrong. If you keep it in a relatively cool place, don't stack anything against or over it and don't let overheat in any other way, chances are that you'll never see RRoD. Furthermore, since the console is relatively prone to overheating anyway, it's a good excuse, should you need one, to leave it off during summer and go hit the beach.
Srsly.