Ok, it has been 3 years ago since OSX came out in early versions. You mean to tell me you haven't touched a Mac in two years + and you stand there talking trash about them? I'm not saying I use Macs for anything substantial but I can see their worth. As far as multimedia Macs hands down blow away any affordable PC solution. I started on a Mac, hated the motherfucker on OS 7.5 and 7.6, trashed the piece of shit and went to PC. After a few years I became a technician, then move to networking and currently work in system administration and network management. I STILL USE A PC. However, when you compare the two OSs the mac unfortunately is more secure and stable, has more to offer to the standard (non-gaming) user in the way of utilities, is easier to back up, and easier to network amongst themselves. That is to the common user. Now powerusers get used to something and good with it and that comfort is what you are lashing out in regards to. It's because you find it easier to use for YOU. Now I'm not saying Macs are the absolute perfect machine, like I said, I use PCs and will continue to use them. As far as manufacturers not having 1394 capability built into their machines, go to Dell's website and take a look at their laptops on the consumer side. We can agree they are the biggest of the mainstream distributers right? Ok, now look at how many mobiles they carry without 1394. How many? 1 fucking machine, their bottome of the line. The inspiron 5150 - XPS machines all have 1395 and USB 2.0, enough said.
I think people stick with Window because they are pretty much stuck with it now. The business world moved to it years ago and it just isn't feasible to move away from it for compatibilities sake. Macs are more secure 46 known viruses 1 of which currently has any effect and it is a worthless little trojan that doesn't even do anything and the service it transmitts through is off by default so the average user doesn't even know it is there. PCs have 1000s of known worms and most of them have at least some known effects. Now lets talk about the kernel a bit. BBS undershell as opposed to NT. Hands down there is no comparison for control or security. One of the very attractive attributes to new Macs is the ability to use the OS10.3 commandline to do just about anything. It comes with any number of server utilities built in and has a host of things in it that PCs don't have. Program management is another big issue. For the most part, exception being microsoft products, the mac OS allows you to move programs and delete programs without uninstallers, which is HUGE in backup and restoration. Windows has a backup utility in it but it blows. I personally use Ghost now but I'm also not the average user and it doesn't come stock in the PC OS.
As far as the iPod goes, it was originally made for Macs and has only recently been made compatible with PCs. The actual iPod itself is the same as it always was, they just wrote iTunes to be used with PC systems which allowed the iPod compatibility with the OS. They then just released a USB2.0 corde to make it work correctly with systems not having firewire. Their failure to include a cable to make it work is a bit of an oversight but I know why they did it. Since the iPod already had design and packaging done and there is almost NO room in the package for anything but safety packaging and the base unit, it would cost too much to remake the packaging and coordinate with the two different oversees manufacturers to get the adapters into the retail boxes. So they simply just released the 19.95 adapter to make it work and most places carrying iPods just carry the adapter in the accessories section. I too think it is stupid, but they are apple users, they are accentric and wierd.
There is a desktop rebuilding silo still but you almost never see it used anymore. Most of the time you see optimizations of the drive and some things like that but rebuilding the desktop is an OS 9 and below carryover.
Having said all that, I personally use PCs and they are a better fit for me, but I can see the utility of a Mac. I tend to be old and stuck in my ways so I don't really care to move to an all new computing platform without and significant gain, which currently there is not.
I'm open minded enough to see why people use it is all, and in the future if I ever get a ton of extra money I might pick one up just to play around with it. As I said I see their utility even if they are not really my preferred platform.
