Windows.. it's like coming home! 3414

I wouldn't run 'mission critical' stuff on any Mac; not with Apple's compatibility habits. But that's not Apple's market; they target consumers, and to an limited extent workstations.

But given that I want to run Windows, I can run it on beta drivers from Apple or non-beta from Intel.

Bit of a toss up, really. :D

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I've still got the PowerBook. I'm not swearing never to touch a Mac again or the like.

Well, you seem to feel that way. Or perhaps I should say you seem to feel that all right-thinking people would wish to run OS X; but maybe you exclude me from that particular fraternity. :D

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Well, I spoke of my experiences, but these complaints may be heard from other people's mouths too.

Last I checked it it was a Clbuttic app.

Yes, that's true. Yet it seems you need to have somewhat particular needs for the Mac to be the best bet. Media *production* isn't as popular as *consumption*, where Windows seems to have the lead.

Not just in games; Media Center seems a lot more complete, and a lot more compelling, than Front Row. WMP offers a nicer media viewer than QuickTime, even if you spring for the $30 pro-upgrade.

XP's technology to handle this is quite elderly, but it is servicable, and I was quite surprised, when a first bought a Mac, that Apple had not done at least as much.

We'll see if it comes in 10.5; but do not forget that even when it does come, app support must be provided for it to work.

No. What Apple does is not what the rest of the industry does; it puts a might higher premium on compatibility. This is genuinely different.

Microsoft also provides free tools, incluing scripting languages and IDEs. And MS's IDE's kick sand in XCode's face. :D

It is true that MS has no real answer to Automator, but at present Automator is a pretty limited technology. It may be that Apple will fix this, but we'll see.

This is not my experience. I find that there's a lot of apps with OS 9 UI, or parts of it. It some cases this does extend to windowing methods, too.

MS's open-save dialogs are a bit of a weak point- surprisingly many apps still use the Win3.0 dialogs even now.

But nevertheless I agree there's no contest. Windows offers more consistancy. :D

No. But I think WMP11, IE7, Windows Desktop Search, and various other bits will be free- or are already so.

I do not mean Apple is morally obliged to give away software. I mean it is a point in MS's favor that they do so.

snip- Mac apps burning CPU with no windows open

You seem to be making my argument for me. Thanks. :D

I feel Windows approach is more elegant here; processes are an implementation detail, to be managed by the apps not the user.

If an app really, truely needs a slow startup, it can keep its own process alive automatically.

snip- bringing up Photoshop

I wonder why that is. I would have expected the palettes to draw instantly; maybe it was paged out?

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I recognize that Word is a far, far more powerful tool, and quite a lot faster too. But Clippy Must Die.

snip- the Switch makes new macs less desirable

Exactly. Nobody wants to buy software that is *already* obsolete, even if the hardware speed advantage is so great that it's theoretically a win.

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Well, buying a laptop does have *that* problem, but I am not sure I can hold it against Toshiba!

Nor is Apple better. Not only are *all* their laptops bundled with LCD displays, but so are iMacs. :D

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Oh, maybe, but perhaps not *wrong* buttumptions. Just ask Sandman or GreyCloud about me. :D