Wizer - you've just opened a massive can of worms on me there mate, your view's of the mac are from someone who's either not used them extensively or has had a bad experience, because pretty much everything you have said is wrong and ignorant of the real facts.
OS X is built on UNIX which is a million times more extendable and tweakable than windows!
OS X has tons and tons of software, i've not once needed a piece of software that I used on a PC that I couldn't find an equivelant of the Mac (MS Office is on a mac, outlook etc, Adobe Products, Macromedia Products, etc etc etc).
OS X is also very very secure so no worries about virus's and rediculous security holes, being built on UNIX the underlying security is far stronger and safer than Windows.
OS X is VERY flexible - your statement of doing it the mac way is very confusing and in fact very wrong. I find using a Mac not only faster than using a PC, but a lot more stress free, I can get actually get a lot more work done in a lot shorter time.
OS X is very tweakable from a techy point of view, you have pretty much all of the unix commands and function avaible to you at the terminal, window's ms-dos terminal is very weak compared, would you honestly say that a Unix/Linux based machine is not as tweakable than windows?
The new Intel/Mac's that come out next year can dual boot windows, linux, and OS X! and the current mac's can actually run windows within OS X using Virtual PC
Also, what is wrong with a computer that just 'works' - no-one wants to spend all their time sorting out drivers, missing .dll's, viruses, security patches, rubbish performance etc etc. (There is no NEED to de-fragment a Mac hard-drive)
I come from a background where i've used PCs extensively for around 10 years, so my decision to switch to Mac was one based on experience, and i'm in a position to say that a Mac is a far suprerior, better value for money, more powerful, more efficient and generally a stress free computer.
Also, i've introduced 5 people to mac's using the new mac-mini (beatifull little machine!) and everyone of them used it with succes straight out of the bat, there is no 'learning from scratch' most of the file functions are quite similar to windows, but just done in a better and more logical manner.
However, PC's do have their place and it's each to their own, but before slagging one machine off you need to learn about each. I think everyone should use a pc and a mac and then make up their minds. Part of apple's problem is the rubbish that is spouted about their machines by Microsoft lovers (i'm not saying that is you btw),
As for the comment about it being VHS v Sony system - thats so not the case, apple's market-share is growing all the time and with the advent of the new Intel/Mac's next year, Microsoft will have a real competitor to deal with for once, as OS X is light years ahead of 'Longhorn'/Vista.
End of Rant :lol: :lol:
P.S Microsoft do not own a large chunk of the company, back in the day Microsoft were forced to invest in apple to avoid creating a Monopoly, Apple now owns the majority of its own company.