McDonald’s serves more food in a day worldwide than most quality restaurants put together. It does not mean McDonalds makes quality food – go rent Supersize Me for an example. In the same way, the superior market share for Windows does not mean it is a superior OS. I find the average Joe is unable to detect quality even if it bit him in the ass, anyway.

Microsoft is not The Church Of Satan, we’ll leave that to Anton LeVey’s inheritors. But it is a corporate citizen that has been shown from day one (ie QDOS aquisition) to have dubious business practices, which has always been a great way to get rich. Read about railroad barons, or the history of the Kennedy or Bronfman’s fortune for proofs of that. If there is any reason I am adverse to Microsoft, this is it.

Legal does not mean moral. Then again, few people today care about moral. But we all LOVE a winner, and are ready to forgive them how they became a winner.

As an IT consultant, I am called to work on all computer platforms. I chose to specialize on the Mac because I’d rather do stuff with my computer than do stuff on my computer. Mac users will understand the statement. Windows users may not, until they try earnestly to work on a Mac for a couple of months.

While each new Windows generation has narrowed the gap with MacOS, there is still enough of a difference in increased efficiency and intuitiveness of the GUI to support my choice.

Of course there are things like the lack of Games on the Mac, or delays in availability for new title releases. But then, a serious gamer may want to consider a dedicated game box and projection TV with full Dolby Surround for the best experience…

In the end, though, it’s all a right vs left brain issue. Which OS is best for you depends on how YOU work. Creative people like Mac so much simply because the GUI is far more intuitive.

As for rabid Windows fans?

Writer Steve Jack recently compared Windows IT managers to hostages with the Stockholm syndrome. In Dr Carver’s words: “The combination of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and ‘cognitive dissonance’ produces a victim who firmly believes the relationship is not only acceptable, but also desperately needed for their survival. The victim feels they would mentally collapse if the relationship ended. In long-term relationships, the victims have invested everything and placed ‘all their eggs in one basket.’ The relationship now decides their level of self-esteem, self-worth, and emotional health.”

And they call Mac users Fanatics!

I came across this while doing my nightly rounds and figured I could add my own hyperinflated two cents: I keep beta-testing software the crashes this, that or the other on my Mac. [Given, i’m really really really good at…

I agree, but actions DO speak louder that words. SpaceShip One just claimed the 10 mil prize a week and a bit ago. Surprised to find it was designed and engineered on Macs? There have been several other very advanced products recently either engineered or designed on Macs (can you say Dyson?) — noteable actions of ‘First-class’ citizens. My feeling is that the small Mac community will ALWAYS be the innovatiors and the large WinTel world will simply be relegated to continue to drone away at their mindless ‘Tasks’.

Of course though, it would ALSO help Apple’s cause to let the public in general KNOW about these achievements, don’t you think?

As far as ‘buggy’ web sites are concerned, it is just self-absorbed and rude NOT to consider ALL platforms (like many do). Anything less contravines the original ‘commercial’ purpose of the web. Many sites are so over-complicated and over-engineered for the job they are intended to do that it is absurdly laughable. Oh yes, and “Death to Flash!”. There. I’ve said it.

But your point is a very good one. It is in the interest of any company releasing any innovative software product to support and test apple machines. Never thought of that. Thanks.

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/06/30.11.shtml

Apple actually run their customer call center on a single global instance of PeopleSoft CRM (disclaimer: I work for PeopleSoft). When you call Apple, whoever answers that call is getting screen pops coming up in Safari.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=567

There aren’t too many enterprise apps that are more demanding than running a large scale call center.

Skype is a perfect example of an initially MS-Win only social tool. And it’s been instructive to find how many people I’ve wanted to talk to have been using Mac or Linux with AIM or Yahoo or whatever and couldn’t even try Skype. Now that Mac and Linux versions are available they still don’t want to try it because it’s “non-standard”. So it’s a good thing that it grew so fast despite excluding a large proportion of early adopters initially.

From a dev standpoint. If you have to support Mac and Linux initially, this forces you into using open software and open standards. This is a *good* thing.

steve (Happy Macist. Well, at home anyway…)

No that’s settled I have some left over words: zealot, subversive, monopoly, ignoramus, radical, geek. Anybody need them for some slashdot Linux-vs-Windows thread?