Vista Innovation @ [H] Consumer

[ecktt]

Just my 2 cents.
To say the article rubbed me the wrong way is an understatement. I fully acknowledge that Mac has a solid platform but to tout is superiority? That's all subjective. If you want to talk about the OS itself, it should be discussed how OSX is built upon a monolithic kernel while Windows NT 3.5 and above is moving towards a micro kernel (is currently a hybrid). In essence its the most future looking commercial operating system out there. Its been already stated that M$ OSes have better hardware support in terms of variety but what about total cost of ownership and availability of support. In my neck of the woods (Trinidad) Mac support is still iffy.
Well the article took aim at M$ innovation or lack there of. People need to separate the OS from the applications. It’s a pretty clear separation. The first few chapters of an Operating system text books make that distinction clear. So the innovation part? MS again is one of the most progressive in terms of OS design (or at least compared to the *nix crowd who have been bogged down to stuff that 20+ yrs old). In terms of progression of applications is a different thing all together. Applications are what the users interact with and determine their experience on a computer. Personally, most of my software is either open source or free for use.

 

[nilepez]

Several posters have also bashed the "OS X has no viruses" argument saying that if Macs had a larger market share there would be more viruses for OS X. You are right, but don't miss the point: There are remarkably less viruses out there for OS X. Is there potential for viruses? Sure. But nobody makes them...so your OS is generally more secure (at least until their Market Share grows).

I haven't read the entire thread, but when i bitch about Mac Heads saying stuff like this, it's precisely because they always claim the reason they have less attacks is that OS X is more secure. They never that having less than 5% makes attacking a mac uneconomical for criminals (though it may be a point of pride for some hacker) . If 1 in 20 windows users gets infected by some attack, that'd be more infections than getting 100% of the macs.

When he ignores the market share of each OS, he ignores the economics that are the justification for writing most of these attacks in the first place.

 

[Glacian22]

I do agree that Vista's release has been underwhelming, cause while I do like it, there are far too few new feature for a product this long in development. Aside from the only real new technology in Readyboost, the rest (aero glass, search) just feel like a little polish added to XP.

 

[nigerian_businessman]

I'm going to buy a Mac, this summer. That said, I wish I could buy something other than the limited choices available. It's not buying "just Mac hardware", it's buying either a severely gimped Mac Mini, a moderately powerful but essentially un-upgradeable iMac or a way overpriced (at least for my needs) but expandable Power Mac.

Apple, if you're listening, pay attention here:

Give us a mid-range Mac with upgradeable graphics, easy to upgrade ram and storage, and you will see PC guys switching in droves. However, you're gonna also have to offer better upgrade options than video cards that are priced outrageously in comparison to their PC counterparts. We want a good selection of video cards that are priced similarly to their PC counterparts. We don't need every manufacturer under the sun to be supported, or every confusing model of video card. Just give us a limited low-end, mid-range, and high-end selection. Driver issues shouldn't be a problem these days, with the unified driver model adopted by both ATI and nVidia. Hell, only officially support gaming cards from one camp if you're looking for 'the experience', and support them VERY well. People will still appreciate the ability to buy a lower priced Mac and upgrade as their budget allows. This is the ONE obstacle that has kept most of us PC and gamer guys from switching for so long. Please, please, PLEASE fix it.

 

[flippin_waffles]

Well, I have to disagree even with the premise of this article. I can't make myself believe that the author hasn't at least tried Vista before writing this article, but I certainly have to question it. Personally, I find it far and away better than XP. The thing is simply faster, more responsive, cleaner, etc. There is no thrashing of the harddrive when I do every day tasks, and things appear instantly when I open them. Who cares if the damn thing has similar aspects to OSX, i'm sure it could be said visa versa as well. As for a resourse hog, that is something I actually can appreciate. I like the fact that SuperFetch actually puts my expensive ram to use, instead of sitting there empty for %95 of the time. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, but SuperFetch adds a substantial performance increase in everything I use windows for to date. I mean, why would anyone want to utilize the harddrive's very slow access and throughput, instead of the instant access and retrieval of ram. I'm baffled when I see people say that Vista is a resourse hog. It uses the resources available to it in a smart way. Multitasking with Vista is leaps and bounds ahead of XP, regardless of the workload put on it. I just have to question whether the Vista bashers have actually used it. Maybe it's the hardware being used, I don't know, but with my s939 X2 4400, x800 pro, and 1GB ddr400 ram, the thing is SOLID AS A ROCK. I had XP tweaked and tweaked and tweaked some more, and it never came close to the user experience I get with Vista. It's a blast. I've read story after story (%90 from Digg), about how terrible Vista is, and how XP users shouldn't bother upgrading. Well my advice is to at least try it and see for yourself. It's the only way you are going to be able to experience the rich user experience that Vista affords to the end user. Flat out misinformation like this article is a clear cry of desperation IMO.

 

[Modred189]

Well, I have to disagree even with the premise of this article. I can't make myself believe that the author hasn't at least tried Vista before writing this article, but I certainly have to question it. Personally, I find it far and away better than XP. The thing is simply faster, more responsive, cleaner, etc. There is no thrashing of the harddrive when I do every day tasks, and things appear instantly when I open them. Who cares if the damn thing has similar aspects to OSX, i'm sure it could be said visa versa as well. As for a resourse hog, that is something I actually can appreciate. I like the fact that SuperFetch actually puts my expensive ram to use, instead of sitting there empty for %95 of the time. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, but SuperFetch adds a substantial performance increase in everything I use windows for to date. I mean, why would anyone want to utilize the harddrive's very slow access and throughput, instead of the instant access and retrieval of ram. I'm baffled when I see people say that Vista is a resourse hog. It uses the resources available to it in a smart way. Multitasking with Vista is leaps and bounds ahead of XP, regardless of the workload put on it. I just have to question whether the Vista bashers have actually used it. Maybe it's the hardware being used, I don't know, but with my s939 X2 4400, x800 pro, and 1GB ddr400 ram, the thing is SOLID AS A ROCK. I had XP tweaked and tweaked and tweaked some more, and it never came close to the user experience I get with Vista. It's a blast. I've read story after story (%90 from Digg), about how terrible Vista is, and how XP users shouldn't bother upgrading. Well my advice is to at least try it and see for yourself. It's the only way you are going to be able to experience the rich user experience that Vista affords to the end user. Flat out misinformation like this article is a clear cry of desperation IMO.

QFT. If I spend 2 days with Vista, I would probably come up with some bogus conclusions as well. After three months with it, I love it.
My only real complaint is that Flip3D isn't anti-ailiased.

 

[markt435]

QFT. If I spend 2 days with Vista, I would probably come up with some bogus conclusions as well. After three months with it, I love it.
My only real complaint is that Flip3D isn't anti-ailiased.

really...it looks like it is at the least 2xAA lol. least for me

 

[snaggletooth]

I fear voicing my true opinion in this thread for fear of it being deleted and/or me being banned for "Threadcrapping"

i think that the borderline for banned comments disintegrated around the same time the beatdowns were ordered for the self-righteous prolls. I think you can let 'er fly without too much fear of repremand.

as for mr.author, the article didn't bother me at all. if anything, it was one of the most grammatically correct pieces of journalism to grace hardocp since i began reading several years ago. it's not what i come here to read and was a little agressive, but it was really well written. i don't have any stock in either company so any slander against either doesn't affect me one iota; aside from perhaps driving consumer costs south.

it would be in much better taste, however, to remain vigilant without sinking to the lowest common denominator for a forum discussion. i work construction, can swear whenever i want at work. everyone does. it looks really unprofessional, however, to read swearing from the editor in cheif of the website, yeesh ...for lack of the right words to properly defend your publishing opinion?

this is a premier hardware review website regardless of peoples' opinions about the stance taken via the latest editorial, except now we can let loose with swearing in the forums! it's ok, the guys in charge say free speech for all!

 

[Modred189]

really...it looks like it is at the least 2xAA lol. least for me

It looks better in some windows than in others, I guess. But 2x, even, hehe. With most cards and a simple graphic like that, 4X would have been appreciated.

 

[nilepez]

Well, I have to disagree even with the premise of this article. I can't make myself believe that the author hasn't at least tried Vista before writing this article, but I certainly have to question it. Personally, I find it far and away better than XP. The thing is simply faster, more responsive, cleaner, etc. There is no thrashing of the

Too soon for me to tell. The reality is that a fresh install of XP is always peppier than one that's got all the software installed, as well as TSRs that you've long since forgotten about.

That said, I spent a week or 2 running my old A64 3000+ with just 512mb of ram and it was clear that a relatively recent install of vista RC2 was much more usable than my 2 year old install of XP. Would that still hold true? I don't know and I can't use my 512mb stick of ram (really REALLY old DDR) in my core2 system.

That said, the framerate of EQ drops dramatically in Vista. When I decide to upgrade my X800XL, it won't matter, but right now, losing 20 or 30fps matters and that keeps me from really switching....but I just installed Virtual PC and put Vista in it to play with.

 

[FrgMstr]

Kyle you forgot to mention...<snip>


Bottom line is, there is nothing wrong with voicing your opinion, but when you write a front page article about it ... it could have been better in tone. It is quite obvious he came off wrong.

I forgot to mention NOTHING. I am just a bystander here.

And I still stand by my original statement that Apple sucks because they will not let me purchase their OS for MY hardware. Should they ever do that, count me in for sure. I would not miss it for the world.

On the subject of Vista and upgrading my personal rig. My main RAID card and scanner (which was very expensive) will not work with Vista. Until I see reason to jump ship for DX10, I am going to hold my breath. Maybe Steve Jobs will rescue me from suffocation....maybe not.

 

[FrgMstr]

i think that the borderline for banned comments disintegrated around the same time the beatdowns were ordered for the self-righteous prolls. I think you can let 'er fly without too much fear of repremand.

As long as you follow the rules, you can say pretty much anything you want to around here. Rule #1 is without a doubt the most important. If you can't carry on a conversation like an adult then you had best not post here.

(1) Absolutely NO FLAMING, NAME CALLING OR PERSONAL ATTACKS. Mutual respect and civilized conversation is the required norm.

 

[Finkus]

I believe the intention of the article was to spur discussion more than anything ...and on that level it has done it's job ...

Well I'm sure it was supposed to promote discussion about Mac OS vs Vista but most of the discussion seems to be around how [H] could go all tabloid on us.

I notice that it has disappeared fron the front page which was a wise move. I'm sure most people clicked this expecting an excellent, 'Ubuntu' style analysis of Vista and were surprised at what they ended up reading.

 

[Dan_D]

Many of the pot shots at Vista and Microsoft are totally valid. I'll not argue that point. But Apple hardly has the most secure and most stable platform around. I've had both together in a single environment and I've found that the Apple machines lock up, crash and have hardware failures about as often as your standard $1,000+ PC.

Apple makes decent hardware and a decent operating system that should be branded "My First Computer by Fisher Price." With that said, Mac OS X.anything is hardly the holy grail of the computing industry.

 

[cooter]

I will end the argument for me right here:

OSX = No BF 2142 = not a chance in hell I will buy it for me.

OSX = Cute = Easy to use = the GF can have one

 

[Mons]

So Apple's OS is better than Microsoft's best efforts. Why should it matter? In order to use OS X, I have to buy a Mac. This means I only get to use software, hardware, and peripherals with my new computer approved by Steve Jobs. My bank account is also noticeably lighter than if I would have bought a PC with the exact same hardware. And why can I only get a last generation ATI video card in my $3000+ Mac? Where is the option for an 8800 GTS/GTX? SLI? What about overclocking by CPU or video card to add more value/per dollar spent? I guess Mr. Jobs doesn't think I need to be able to do these things on my Mac. Perhaps he is right since there are very few games for the Mac and they are seldomly released the same day as the PC versions. Maybe this is why Apple has only 2-3% marketshare.

If Apple was really serious about proving their OS "superiority" to the 97% of us who use PCs, they would legitimately allow us to install and run OS X on our PCs. Until they do, keep the black turtlenecks, denims, and brain-washing Koolaid on your side of the fence.

 

[mryerse]

Before you read this, I want you to know that there was a day when I was one of the biggest anti-Microsoft people I knew.

Wow, this was a disappointing article. It is hard to read something that starts off by making it clear that the main purpose of the article is to point out how bad a product is, rather that making it clear how much better another product is. Maybe it's just me, but I am not attracted by major cynical comments. Regardless, in the hopes of hearing something cool about Apple, I continued to read.

Why is it so surprising to hear Bill Gates "go sideways"? Since when has Microsoft *not* been a company that profits on the ideas of others? Isn't that how they make money? Find something innovative, buy it, improve it if you can, integrate it into what you already have, and market it? How is that a surprise, why did you not expect this from Bill? Do I agree with this business model? I don't disagree with it. This is America. You vote with your choice in what you buy. Most people are voting for Microsoft.

(In reference to Apple)

Do I believe they have the best commercial operating system on the market? You bet.

I am sorry, but you are completely wrong here. Please ask yourself, why is it that most fortune 100 companies, or most companies for that matter, run networks of Microsoft Windows clients? Is it because they are superior to Apple operating system clients? Of course not. I think it has to do with manageability. What would it be like to manage 70,000 Apple clients? Things like software delivery, account management, distributing policies, reporting status/configurations, remote administration? Your article seems to focus mostly on the home user aspect of Windows vs. OS X. In that realm, yes, I often recommend Apple to friends/family. However, in the enterprise, there is no question. Windows is much easier to manage than most other desktop clients.

In the end, I am still glad I read this. It was interesting to hear someone make an attempt to rebut Kyle's comments on Apple. You've further helped me think that same thing I did before. Even if Apple has better hardware/software, that's not enough to own majority of market share. This is not to say that I don’t want Apple to own majority of market share, it’s just to say that I understand why they don’t.

Thank you, have a nice day

 

[Grimlaking]

To those that say there are no viruses for a mac. Please my dear friends head to vil.nai.com Search your OSX platform. They do exist. IN MUCH LESS NUMBERS but they do exist. And the simple rule is if you want to do buisness with the world. YOU NEED to virusscan your work. Because if you pass along an infected file to soemone you do buisness with that IS running a Windows OS then you look very unprofessional.

What is a macintosh. It has great usability and features for someone who doesn't care how there computer works but just wants it to work. Now all they need to do is get to the price point that a PC is at for something that has equivlent performance. They do that then they are golden.

Do I like mac products. Sure.. I have an Ipod that I haven't used in over 4 months. Ipod video even... the black one... it is cool.

I want an Iphone very badly.. but unless they get itunes working on Vista I don't see that one happening any time soon. Oh and kill all of that stupid autoloading bs that they do. It drives me nuts. Why do I need four or five memory resident programs running just to use my ipod?

Oh and from a buisness standpoint unless my buisness needs to intigrate directly with other mac heavy buisnesess... think grafic heavy buisnesses. I don't want it. Why? Because the TCO is so high for a mac. They need to get that in line or competitive with a PC. Well a MAC is a PC but everyone agrees they are not the same.

Mac's are pretty machines with sometimes decent hardware in them. A limited hardware support structure (that means they don't need a lot of the bloat ware) and a OS vendor not afraid to make everyone who wants to use there new OS have to upgrade every program they own. In a lot of cases buying new revisions.

Think about it. Vista has caused SOME pain like this here recently. For the first time in HOW many years?

OSX does this... well comparatively at the drop of a hat.

Oh and you still need to be able to open a .doc or .xls file on a mac. So all of those macro viruses? You are suseptable.

 

[Chris_B]

 

[dgingeri]

T
Do I like mac products. Sure.. I have an Ipod that I haven't used in over 4 months. Ipod video even... the black one... it is cool.

I want an Iphone very badly.. but unless they get itunes working on Vista I don't see that one happening any time soon. Oh and kill all of that stupid autoloading bs that they do. It drives me nuts. Why do I need four or five memory resident programs running just to use my ipod?

Just wait. I had to replace my iPod Nano 3 times in the year I owned it. Each time I had to spend over an hour just explaining that it did nothing. They kept telling to to do this and that in the menu, but the menu wouldn't even display. Then I'd wait another hour for htem to set up the RMA process. It was worse than dealing with Toshiba for laptop repair!

Their support absolutely sucks, and they don't listen to anyone about criticism or pointers. Repairing Power Macs with extended on-site warranties takes months just to get a tech on site. trying to get it repaired at a Mac shop takes weeks, though, so it's actually easier to not have the on-site warranty.

Their support sucks. Their quality sucks. Apple just plain sucks.

 

[Max Mike]

Using the word integrity to describe Apple shows woeful knowledge of history. Someone also needs some history on Apples stealing.

That was a lesson in how to be oblivious to history.

 

[THRESHIN]

i love that comic strip!

 

[PinataUT]

Apple makes decent hardware and a decent operating system that should be branded "My First Computer by Fisher Price."

FTW.

 

[AMDnut_1]

Wow.........

As others have posted here... Apple has stolen many ideas (ie: Widgets / Konfobulator) and I think Firefox had tabbed browsing before Safari (didn't they?). I have lived the Apple nightmare with our old graphics department swearing MACS RULE. The iMAC, what a design flaw since every, and I mean all 12 iMAC HDD's we had failed eventually. Try to take apart that machine to do a simple HDD replacement..... what a fiasco! Hardware has all been copied from the PC since they gave up SCSI years ago and especially since the recent switch to Intel.

As for the OS, I admit, it looks good, but there is no flare. It still seems dismal to me and since I cannot run it on my rig to test, my opinion probably will not change. We still have several around for Photoshop / Illustrator work, but most of our workstations have switched to PC, and 30&#37; are SFF rigs (the MAC Cube was a debacle). It does crash (you get that gay looking rainbow circle) occasionally, more than my Vista RC1 has and certainly more than XP Pro SP2. And, IMHO, it is a rehashed GUI covering a Linux type system that seems slow from time to time.

I guess I prefer MS( overpriced... uggggh ) since I feel that Win XP Pro and so far VISTA is as good as APPLE OSX, no better, no worse in what I have experienced. Our IT is an avid MAC fan and he loves VISTA!

Can't we all just get along even though we are different?

 

[qdemn7]

Can't we all just get along even though we are different?

Sure we can get along, but only if Apple users accept the fact that they have really tiny e-penises.

 

[Syndicated_Death]

I think maybe mac users are better than us PC users. I mean people with more money than me to buy things I can't afford usually are. right?

 

[Bbq]

First, several things:
1. The author swings between Vista and XP, picking the weak points of each to further his agenda. Stick with one or the other.
2. OSX is based on Darwin, which is a propriatory version of NetBSD. Not FreeBSD.
3. Run and Search should be seperated. Let's say you have a big collection of Opera music. You want to search for it, so you type in Opera. You also have the web browser Opera on your system. It doesn't search, but instead opens Opera. Oops.

My points:

The idea of widgets have been around for a long time. Before Konfabulator. Konfabulator was probubly the first Successful widget "engine". Mac's Dashboard wasn't introduced until the launch of OS X in 2005.

iLife: $79 on apple.com. What does it come with?
-iPhoto
-iDVD
-iWeb
-iMovie
-Garageband
-iTunes

So what does this have to do with anything?
-iPhoto: Think of a glorified Picaso. Price: free
-iMovie: Windows Movie Maker. Price: free
-iDVD: Windows Media Player (or something like VLC). Price: free
-iTunes: Windows Media Player, with added bloat, removed functionality, and the ability to buy DRM-infested low quality music. Sounds like a crippled WMP. Again, Free.
-iWeb: Geocities called, they want their web-design software back. Price: Worse than free.
-Garageband: There are quite a few alternatives, most of which are free or cheap. Price: Varies.

Look and feel: Someone came up with a glassy interface, smooth corners, and Transparancy. Never mind that Apple ripped off someone else, but microsoft has a flip 3d! they're copying apple !

Open source is more secure: This is debatable. It's unrelated to if it's open or closed source. Fact is, more people use Windows. More people = more bad guys. More bad guys looking for problems in the code means more will be found. If the same were for apple, there would be just as many security risks.

Apple's Overpriced, underperforming hardware: Discussed enough.

 

[MCRAYGSX]

Sorry HARDOCP but I dont aggree a single bit with your Topic, Why u have to ruin BIlls name ?

 

[MCRAYGSX]

Many of us have had time to check out Vista ourselves at this point, or we've at least heard enough water cooler talk about it. Scott, our Mac guy, has had a sore spot about Vista for a while. Naturally he's upset that Microsoft chronically rips off Apple features, but he's more upset that Microsoft has become so behemoth in size that it's too busy tripping over itself to inject anything fresh into the industry.



Thanks for reading!

Microsoft is standing in such a position only bcuz of BIll Gates and his hard work. And Microsoft haven improved IT industry a lot in past few years, I really dont understand why editor made such comments and held Micorosoft as biggest crime of all. Why the Editor have problem if microsoft is injecting the market for better.

 

[FlyinBrian]

/yawn same Mac bull here. Nothing new. Mac is pretty good , it should be. They program it to work with a preset number of hardware so basically it's a giant freaking console device. For some stupid reason Mac zealots think mac would be flawless on 98% of the worlds computers and magically compatible with 1000s of different computer configurations.

Think about it, Windows does a pretty good freaking job considering it has to work with every configuration and it usually succeeds. That's a lot of programing time that goes into compatibility so cut Microsoft some slack. Frankly, im sick of hearing it.

 

[harsaphes]

WOW, kinda shocked so many even CARE about this.

 

[qdemn7]

WOW, kinda shocked so many even CARE about this.

That's cause Mac Zealots are like religious fanatics always trying to convert you to their faith, while saying those of all other faiths are going to Hell. After a while you simply don't want to hear their shit anymore.

 

[steiny]

I was very disappointed to read this article on [H].

Innovation is a tough cookie to crack. I don't feel like any OS had made any innovations in the recent years. Is a better version of search an innovative feature? Are translucent windows innovative? Are widgets innovative? I'd say no to all of these. Yes, they are all new features in Vista that OSX did previously. Do I care? No.

I am a Windows user because I build my own pc, am I going to purchase Vista anytime soon? Probably not, because XP fits my needs.

Please do not have any more articles like this on [H]. I respect this site tremendously, but this type of article has the distinct scent of !!!!!! bating.

 

[-thc-(cZ)]

After bravely deleting the 3rd post in this thread, the article author or editor are nowhere to be seen.

SCARED?? BOO!

 

[prtzlboy]

wow, if I see many more editorials like that, I might just skip the [H] frontpage altogether and go straight to the forums.

It would have been nice to click that link and see an objective thrashing of Vista instead of a Mac fan - boy rant.

 

[magoo]

WOW, kinda shocked so many even CARE about this.

They care because the article was way off (IMO) the usual for this site.

Ordinarily [H] prints objective,well written,well researched material;with a little spice thrown in. Clearly superior to the fanmail and bullshit out there otherwise.

This was not the case,in this article.

Thats why.

 

[Trepidati0n]

While [H] hardware reviews are getting better and better, the software reviews are getting very subjective and weak. Sorry, to much personal belief. Find a benchmark and make sure that benchmark is considered valid by your viewers...then review the product.

 

[FrgMstr]

After bravely deleting the 3rd post in this thread, the article author or editor are nowhere to be seen.

SCARED?? BOO!

I thought it was interesting that the author did not show up here either. Does not exactly firm up his position.

 

[FrgMstr]

While [H] hardware reviews are getting better and better, the software reviews are getting very subjective and weak. Sorry, to much personal belief. Find a benchmark and make sure that benchmark is considered valid by your viewers...then review the product.

You are confusing evaluations and reviews with editorials.

 

[Sabrewulf165]

The whole article just sounds like yet another angry Mac fan rant to me. Don't you know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? If OS "ten" is so great and Apple is so innovative, why do you even care what Microsoft is doing? Why do you care what PC enthusiasts think of Macs? Your constant attempts at acerbic wit throughout the article leave you sounding just like a typical Mac zealot, which will basically get you ignored by most PC guys. "Oh no, Microsoft copied Apple's UI layout!" Yeah, well? There are only so many ways to do a good UI layout, and if Apple's is so great then why WOULDN'T Microsoft copy it? Are you going to rant about how GM and Ford copy each other next time because both of them make trucks with 4 wheels and crappy gas mileage?

Also, has your Mac-love blinded you so much that you really believe all that BS about Mac being so secure and virus-proof? Do you really think that if Apple and Microsoft's market shares were reversed that people wouldn't be saying the exact opposite? Give it a freaking rest... there are fewer viruses and exploits for the Mac because they are 10&#37; or less of the market, and NOBODY CARES ENOUGH TO EXPLOIT THEM! As an example, I love Firefox, but I don't fool myself that it wouldn't be just as dangerous to use as IE if it controlled 90% of the marketplace.

Most of the rest of your rant just lacks merit, IMO. Let's go over a few complaints:

I could go on listing stuff that Apple has done before, and better than Microsoft, like IPv6 implementation (10.4 has it built in, XP doesn&#8217;t)

Yeah, because THAT really mattered 5 years ago. Hell, it barely even matters now, especially when it comes to the average user.

the Mac&#8217;s ability to run OS X, Linux/UNIX (along with the literally thousands of apps out there associated with that family of OSs), and Windows

Uh, you're not serious are you? Please tell me you're not giving Apple CREDIT for a restriction that they artificially impose.

Safari&#8217;s implementation of tabbed browsing predating IE 7 for nearly two years, etc.

I can't comment on Safari, but Firefox 1.0 launched in November of '04, so it's not like Apple had a 2-year monopoly on tabbed browsing. I know that Mac fans tend to live in a utopia of awesomeness that is OS-bundled software, but in the PC world people actually resent most of the stuff that comes bundled with Windows, so 3rd party software is usually a preference, not a burden. For what it's worth, even if I bought a Mac tomorrow and fell in love with it's awesomeness, I would still use Firefox over Safari because of the familiarity factor and cross-platform aspect.

Also, what happened to the &#8220;Run&#8230;&#8221; command in the Windows Vista Start menu? It&#8217;s gone. You have to manually enable it now.

While I've also noticed this, it seems like a rather unimportant detail to me. Maybe I'm just naive but I can't imagine anyone who actually knows what to DO with a run box would bother opening it through the GUI. Super(windows key) + R for the win, man.

Open up the /Applications/Utilities folder in OS X, launch terminal, and you&#8217;ve got a full-blown bash environment on your Mac&#8217;s desktop. The experienced user can make their system do a double back flip with a half gainer if he or she wants to. Try that on a fake DOS prompt.

Since you don't give any specific examples I can't comment, but I think you're underestimating the power of the Windows command prompt. While I won't pretend it's as powerful as a Unix terminal window, it's certainly not as useless as you seem to think.

In summary, your article exemplifies the label "sore winner." If your Mac is your Ferrari, go out and drive it. Who cares about the unwashed masses and their econoboxes?

EDIT - oops, quoted the editor instead of the author. Fixed.