Would CISCO qualify for title of best routers and switches money can buy? And for the home user would Linksys fit this role? Now that CISCO owns Linksys would this make it even better?

I have used several Linksys routers and they seem very good to me. They have a log viewer so you can see what is happening. I would go with one of the newer models with SPI. Like the BEFSX41. It offers more security than just a regular NAT solution. Also, Cisco has had a very good reputation over the years, It seems to me that they would buy a product name that also has a good reputation. Make sense to me.

well first since linksys is a part of cisco, i personally do not think the quality (good or bad) of linksys gear is
going to change ... cause if you look at the prices of cisco gear, and if you think that if they started to
incorporate cisco technology into linksys gear then the prices would be silly, and they would not sell as much
as they do now ... and they mainly target the home/home office, so if they jack the price then that would be
bad .. so i personally don't think that linksys is going to become better solely because they are a part of cisco
now ....
and personally, i would say yah cisco stuff is probably some of the best that money can buy ... i know alot
of companys are going with arris now because of all the nodes you can attach to them, but i work with
these things daily, and i think the arris sucks ... there is not even close the amount of commands available
on an arris that you can do with a cisco product ... when i am talking with a person that is connected to a
arris i am like UGH, i have basically one command to type to troubleshoot their internet connection, yet
when i am talking witth someone on a cisco node, it makes me happy cause i have alot more options
and troublshooting steps i can take cause of the amount of commands available to you ...

so yah i would say cisco takes the cake ....

but yet again, this is a personally opinion .,..;
oh and yah i think linksys still rocks with or without cisco

Cisco Systems makes the de facto standard networking gear really, but it is oriented towards corporate networks with thousands of users... hence the reason why a single cisco unit is about 4 feet tall and costs $10,000!

If you have ever been in a corporate server room, you will see what I mean. Imagine a large room with the air conditioning on full blast, and racks upon racks upon racks of switches, firewalls, etc all made by cisco.

here's an image so you can get an idea of how cisco gear is used:
http://rdolores.4dw.net/personal/eypic.jpg

they also make home products as well.