Now rumors say that Microsoft itself has given up on VISTA, much like Windows ME of the past. They plan on giving us a new OS years earlier then planned – to replace VISTA.

Seeing others use Vista, and having no crash issues at all, other then problems with there third party software, it leaves me to believe that at its core the OS is just fine. Apologizing? I think not.

Apple right now is the lead contender in the rush of “new gen” to coin the phrase. If they continue to play there cards right, Vista might become the minority in homes, instead of the common place. Already I have seen countless new Mac Pro’s at the cafe’s around town, where once I would have seen HP notebooks, and dells. I think its a clear sign the tide is turning, and Microsoft needs a kick in the rear.

Now im not implying that Apple is the only choice, im just stating that for the average user who does not want to contend with alot of head aches, OSX seems to be there best course of action.

I take it that you won’t be using Outlook in Office 2007 then?

If you laugh over the “uncritical fawning” over anything Apple, try looking at the forums at MacNN or the Mac Observer sometime. ThinkSecret is another one where mac users wade in on Apple at the slightest issue where we think Apple has gone wrong.

Want to know some of the issues? Try quality/repair issues, or the consistant interface issue. A lot of us think Apple charges too much for their RAM and don’t put enough in the stock Macs sold. A lot of ire is spent on applications and things we’d like to see Apple correct or add.

Unfortunately, the “uncritical fawning” you hear is when we get on PC sites. There is a hard core of Mac fanatics (face it, we use that term too) that act just like you say and won’t hear anybody critical of Apple say anything they don’t like.

Most of us aren’t like that. What most of us really don’t like (and earns us the same fanatic label) is listening to Windows apologists slam Apple without really knowing or understanding what they’re talking about. If you make a reasoned argument from a position of knowledge, there are plenty of us who like Macs (and also use Windows) that will be glad to engage in a reasoned discussion of the issue with you. It’s when people make crazy statements without any attempt to understand the issues involved that we get irate.

Yeah, we bash Microsoft. It’ cause many of us have used (or do use) Windows and other MS products and know and understand what crap it mostly is, and also understand that the reason it is is because of the monopoly status MS has that allows them to produce it and still maintain a monopoly market share.

Face it, MS is a monopoly, and it will attract its share of attacks based upon that status and how that status allows it to act. Monopolies rarely respond adequately to their markets; they don’t have to. By definition, a monopoly is the only place a customer has to go to buy what they want and need, so customer service is not a mark of your typical monopoly. So a lot of people react negatively to them because of that status. And because Microsoft acts like the typical monopoly, they attract their share of detractors, especially now that Apple is increasingly viewed as a viable alternative to the Microsoft monopoly.

I don’t like the idiotic comments made in forums such as this by the fanatics on either side, but at least I try to understand them.

In the form of the Previous Versions dialog. Right there you have the difference between the way Apple and Microsoft do things. How lame and boring is it to have the Previous Versions Dialog?! Have you seen Time Machine in action? It’s much more impressive when you see it working. It’s not an extra tab on a file’s properties. Time Machine looks like each app going back in time! Only Apple could do backup like this.

As for Vista having it first. You’re assuming Vista’s release date is still as last updated. :)

As Chris has been saying, the Vista UI is all over the place. Like someone stuffed their mouth full of M&Ms and threw up on your monitor.

Eweek.com has a screen shot of Vista’s “Previous Versions” dialog box with the caption, “The Time Machine feature set to ship with Mac OS X
Tiger may have a prettier interface, but it looks as though Vista will
manage to deliver this feature first–in the form of the Previous
Versions dialog.”
http://www.eweek.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=27380&a=187225&po=18,00.asp

Not that I have anything against Macs, I have one. But I laugh at the uncritical fawning over anything Apple, when I know they deserve much criticism, and am annoyed at the bashing of MS as if they deserver nothing but criticism.

But sure, for those hung up on this sort of thing, MS should use consistent UI across the bundles applets (but not go overboard if a certain app works better by being inconstent with the others).

Vista RC1 still feels like a suit you’d buy from Target vs. going to a tailor. There is nothing really wrong with a $100 suit jacket but if you look at it you’ll find puckered seams, loose threads, fabric grain that doesn’t lay quite right and probably makes your ass look big. If you look at the $1000 suit jacket it is made of wonderful wool, every stitch is secure, it lays just right, will last you a lifetime and you will look amazing in it. Oh, did I mention it’s lightweight, unlike Vista? Vista just went from Target to Super Target, now with groceries!