Print - WinInfo Short Takes: Week of May 9

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news...

I'm going to try a little experiment this week--something I've been meaning to do ever since I started writing Short Takes years ago. Instead of the structured format you're used to (and might love, God help you), I'm switching to *a more open and conversational format* that I think will better express not only what I'm trying to say but also the relative frivolity I'm trying to convey. (And note the use of asterisks for emphasis.) Since its beginning 10 long years ago, WinInfo Daily UPDATE hasn't been about pedantically reciting each and every news story, but rather about creating a digest of the most important Windows-related stories. Short Takes is about the stories that fall through the cracks each week. More often than not, it's about heckling the absurd--and having a little fun. It's Friday, folks, and I'm not sure what that's like for you, but for me it's like a sigh of relief, and I intend to celebrate that feeling.

I'm also looking into somehow integrating a regular *blog* into WinInfo, although how that will work is currently unclear. It could be similar to my Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) blogs. Perhaps I'll do a bit each day, then wrap it all into Short Takes at the end of the week. We'll see. None of this is set in stone, and I'd appreciate any feedback you want to provide about the new format.

In my never-ending quest to be a junior league *Jerry Pournelle*, I recently purchased a Safari vest (also known as a photo vest because its many pockets are perfect for holding all the paraphernalia you need for professional photography), which I successfully used on my trip to WinHEC 2005, both on the plane and during the show. The vest is great for holding digital gadgets such as MP3 players, headphones, Secure Digital (SD) cards, USB thumb drives, and cameras, so it was perfect for WinHEC's multimedia needs. And I carted around two laptops in my bag, which didn't leave a lot of room for gadgets. On the down side, I got a lot of looks--and not the good kind.

According to Sun Microsystems, the company will release the latest version of its Microsoft Office-like office productivity suite, StarOffice, this July. StarOffice 8.0 will offer dramatically improved compatibility with Microsoft Office document formats. But the big news with this release, from what I can tell, is that it looks and acts just like Microsoft Office 2003. I've been trying to get companies to try this approach *for a long time*. The biggest barrier to switching from heavily used technology products is familiarity. That StarOffice runs on Linux and Solaris as well as Windows is just the icing on the cake. Now where's the Mac OS X version?

I get a lot of *swag* (i.e., giveaways from companies), so I'm going to start talking about it. This week's best swag came from AMD, which sent me--seriously--a lava lamp with an AMD64 logo on its base. I really like the thing (and my son has twice tried to steal it for his bedroom), but ... a lava lamp? It starts up slowly, then gets overly hot. It isn't exactly the type of thing you want to use to remind you about a company's microprocessor.

Microsoft hasn't revealed which *product editions* the company will provide for Longhorn, but Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates did say in his WinHEC keynote address last week that the company's plans include a Tablet PC Edition of Longhorn. Gates also said he was going to ship Longhorn in early 2005, so maybe we should give his latest prediction a pass.

I'm currently testing a *TiVo Series 2* device and, despite being a long-time Media Center user, I'm finding that the TiVo is really starting to grow on me. I can see why Apple Computer wanted to buy the company. The device is simple to set up and operate, doesn't include any confusing buttons or switches on its front panel, and even makes cute, Macintosh-like booping sounds when you navigate around the UI. It lacks high-end video outputs, but it's reliable as all get out, which is something I can't say about the Media Center Extender that the TiVo sits next to in my den. I'll post a full review on Connected Home Media ( http://www.connectedhomemag.com ) soon, and I might make a permanent switch. If I do, I'm going "Office Space" on that Media Center Extender.

That last comment begs a follow-up. I've considered adding blurbs to my reviews on the SuperSite for Windows that reflect how my opinions of products I've reviewed have changed over time. I'm thinking about calling it "*28 Days Later* in honor of the hit horror film, but I'm open to suggestions. Certainly, I've downgraded my opinion of the Media Center Extender and some other products over time.

According to recently released court documents, Apple Computer will face off against Apple Corporation, the Beatles' record label, in March 2006. The long-awaited *Apple vs. Apple* suit deals with Apple Computer's broken promise to stay out of the music business after Apple Corporation sued in 1991. Apple Corporation says that Apple Computer broke its agreement and alleges trademark abuse. Look, I'm as big a fan of Apple's iPod and iTunes as anyone, but this case is pretty clear-cut, isn't it? Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business. It didn't. Case closed.

Riddle me this, Batman. Microsoft says that the final version of Longhorn will run just fine on today's mid-level PCs. But the *Longhorn preview build* we got this week runs like a dog and is based on XP display technology. What's going to happen when Microsoft adds all the new Longhorn features, plus the new Longhorn rendering engine? Does anyone really believe Longhorn is going to magically speed up or something? Anyone?

My Great Carmack moment of the week: Microsoft will issue *only one security bulletin* next week as part of the company's regularly scheduled monthly security bulletins. It will be rated important.

I should have mentioned this last week. The Mozilla Foundation recently celebrated *50 million downloads* of its Firefox Web browser. Bravo.

Former US Vice President *Al Gore* gets a lot of undeserved flack for taking partial credit for developing the Internet. There's just one problem: He actually did play a role in promoting the growth of the Internet. He also popularized the term "information superhighway." Now he's going to get a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for three decades of contributions to the Internet, according to Webby Founder Tiffany Shlain. Vinton Cerf, one of the inventors of the Internet, will hand Gore his award. "He is indeed due some thanks and consideration for his early contributions," Cerf said. Good for Gore.

Microsoft quietly updated Windows XP Service Pack 2's (SP2's) wireless networking features this week when the company shipped to Windows Update an update for the *Wi-Fi Protected Access 2* (WPA2) wireless networking security feature. Previously, XP only partially supported the WPA2 specification and a related technology called Wireless Provisioning Services Information Element (WPS IE), the latter of which caused many XP SP2 machines to sometimes have problems logging on to Wi-Fi hotspots.

RealNetworks released its latest quarterly earnings this week, surprising some analysts. The company posted strong gains to its *Rhapsody subscription music service*, noting that Rhapsody now has 1.85 million subscribers (although that figure also includes about 900,000 Comcast users who can access the service for free). Rhapsody's music-related revenues doubled year-over-year to $22 million. Does this mean that subscription music services are starting to show signs of life? I think so. When you combine these figures with the millions of people who subscribe to satellite radio and Napster-like music services, it's pretty clear that subscription music services are on the way up.

Web search giant *Google* has started offering a new service called Web Accelerator, which seeks to make Web pages load faster by predicting which Web page a user will want next and preloading it into cache. There's just one problem: Customers who use Web Accelerator request Web pages through Google's servers, raising privacy concerns. In a bit of uncharacteristic clarity, Google agreed that's a valid concern. "There is a bit of a privacy tradeoff," a Google spokesperson said. "We're making the Web faster, but in exchange we do need to know what you're doing." But fear not--Google has no "immediate plans" to use the data. So they say.

The new format lacks focus, is difficult to read, and is generally a failure. It just seems to ramble along.

"I've been considering adding blurbs to my reviews on the SuperSite for Windows that reflect how my opinions of products I've reviewed have changed over time. I'm thinking about calling it "28 Days Later," in honor of the hit horror film, but I'm open to suggestions. Certainly, my opinion of the Media Center Extender, and some other products, has been downgraded over time." My 2 cents? This is a great idea (and a rare moment of introspection on your part). On the "Supersite", it seems like whenever Microsoft releases ANYTHING, it's "Exciting! And! Groundbreaking! And! A! Major! Update! That! You! Should! Consider!" Clearly, your enthusiasm is tempered over time, but your initial reviews remain. I think revisiting these things is a great idea, and one that is long overdue.

I like the old format. Please revert. Also, it should be "The Great Karnac" not "Carmack". Sheesh.

I have to agree that this lacks focus. Personally, I liked it more organized with titles.

Not a big fan of the new format. It's harder to skip over the stories I don't care about and read the ones I do.

Generally lacks focus in the new format, making it hard to read. But I do appreciate the ability to randomly say things that are not necessarily related to a "title". The lack of high end outputs is one of the reasons that I don't like Tivo, and much rather prefer the DVR that my MSO provides. Certainly not nearly as slick, but it is the quality that I ultimately care about, and where my money has been spent on my home theater.

Just title each section so we know to read it or not and I don't get lost in the text please.

If Apple loses in court I guess it will have to change it's name. How about "SNAPPLE?" Oh, wait....

Windows networking is so ****-poor that Apple has released its zero-configuration networking technology for it, called Bonjour. Bonjour doesn't need an IP address or DHCP server. Computers auto-discover each other. Windows sucks

"Riddle me this, Batman. Microsoft says that the final version of Longhorn will run just fine on today's mid-level PCs. But the Longhorn preview build we got this week runs like a dog and is only based on XP display technology. What's going to happen when they add all the features back, plus the new Longhorn rendering engine? Does anyone really believe it's going to magically speed up or something? Anyone?" It's not. Every Windows release gets slower to purposely drive hardware sales. This isn't true of certain other competitors who actually get FASTER with each release (*cough*OS X*cough*). With Longhorn's technologies being backported to XP, it's going to be really tough to sell Longhorn. Most people are happy with their machines and don't see why they'll need such high-end computers just to run an operating system, which should normally be the least resource-consuming layer on the system. I'm still amazed at the clock speed requirements of Longhorn (~3Ghz). Is that all because of the .NET layer?

"The time to switch to Mac is now." Hmmm. Maybe not. It was a bugfest for OS X this week. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1811817,00.asp http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1813445,00.asp http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1806371,00.asp

Thanks for commenting on StarOffice and Mozilla. Personally, I use the free copy of StarOffice (OpenOffice 2 beta) and it's great, as well as Firefox every single day. Neither is sexy, both are great for every day, transparent usage.

I liked the previous format of short takes with section headers but also like the idea of a blog Please revert and do a separate blog.

Please bring back the old format. The new does seem to be a mindless ramble with no organization.

I have to say that the new format seems to be a step backwards rather than an improvement. If it 'aint broken, why try and 'fix' it?

"Hmmm. Maybe not. It was a bugfest for OS X this week. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1811817,00.asp http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1813445,00.asp http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1806371,00.asp " This is getting old. I switched for a reason and I feel like it's no better.

I second the motion! Please bring back the old format. This new format sucks and is unreadable.

May I suggest going back to the old format with a heading "This weeks ramblings" or something like it where you can put your thoughts on it. The new format may be easier to write or even more fun to write, but it is more difficult to read. I looked forward to Short Takes every week because they were so easy to read in the format you used to use.

"In many ways, OS X is simply better than Windows, especially for experienced computer users, and Tiger rubs Microsoft's nose in the embarrassment of shipping a key Longhorn feature--instant desktop search--a full year ahead of the software giant. That's right folks." -- Paul Thurrott, http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/longhorn_5048.asp

"By the way, another reason OS X rocks is because of things like this: http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/collaborate.html It lets a group of people work on a document at the same time using Bonjour." Hmm, this sounds reminiscient to Microsoft Office 2003 with its collaboration scheme but using different technology. I guess it would still be easier than having a server doing the work though. BTW, keep the old format.

Is a Windows user seriously complaining about bugs in another platform? By the way, another reason OS X rocks is because of things like this: http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/collaborate.html It lets a group of people work on a document at the same time using Bonjour. This program is almost enough to switch alone. The few Mac fanboys in the CS department here use SubEtha to code collaboratively all the time-- really neat to watch.

I don't like this format either, I'd normaly just skip what i didn't care about and read the bits I found interesting. And about longhorn performence, don't these early developer builds have lots of extra debug related bits that run in the background to help devs with their work? And for the most part, aen't these alpha builds? Nothing in alpha form ever runs good and fast. I'll wait for beta 1 and so on before I pass judgment

As a Mac user I doubt the speed increases is going to continue, or at least as big a difference, most of the speed increases seem to be with every release they are optimising more of the code with every new releases due to it being a completely new system. Wouldn't Longhorn be the same if it is a totally new system, slow and then more optimised with each service pack

Reads alot like John C. Dvorak's PC Magazine column "Inside Track". So long as you keep the topics and keywords BOLD, it should be easy to find things of interest.

I'm only interested in certain stories so I like the old format so I can skip over irrelevant text.

Please go back to the old format. It's adds much more structure, and if can quickly determine which parts i want to skip and/or read. this format is too long and exhausting...

Paul, you can admit it...after blasting MS's 'Team 99' requirement of being a blogger, you've turned the page and gone and made the weekly update a blog so you can nominate yourself to be on Team 99. Right? Old format, much better

There's a reason OSX gets faster with every release. It has been an absolute dog so far, and really the only way to go was up. Still even the newest dual G5 Mac's feel slower than my 2 year old XP (AMD Athlon 1800) machine. But this fact won't penetrate the RDF field, so never mind. As Ronald Reagan once said: "Facts are stupid things." I'm sure Jobs and the rest of the RDF herd would agree.

What AMD didn't tell you is that the stuff in the lava lamp is made up of intel cores....

"Is a Windows user seriously complaining about bugs in another platform?" Hardly, I don't have to live with them but for the faithful who cares, right? Steve mixes a mean batch of Kool-Aid.

eh, this new format sucks, i have to actually read the whole thing to get to the part where you mention apple. damn. bring back the headings dude.. reading ms news is boring as hell, i much prefer your spinning apple news.. the apple case regards selling music, but not digital media.. paul.. details are important. you never became a lawyer. now we know why. as for 'case closed' what exactly is the punishment, if apple did lose. pay some hundreds of millions of bucks.. until the next lawsuit? shut down iTunes music store? hey paul, why not comment on those interesting pics of beatles music being sold on an MS store... at the winHEC conference.. come on.. i'm gonna go download beatles music on p2p.. i'll be back in while to read the reply..

It's not too bad. I still like it a lot, but much prefer the older format as I don't like the lack of focus. It used to be short and sweet. Not it's short, but a bit too unclear to be as good summary as it used to be. Why not keep the old format and add a blog page for your daily or weekly thoughts? Martin T, Sweden

"Still even the newest dual G5 Mac's feel slower than my 2 year old XP (AMD Athlon 1800) machine." Oh, hey, it "feels" slower for you. That must mean it is! Let's ignore all the performance benchmarks where G5s ate AMDs for lunch. Gotta love that Wintel koolaid.

I think Paul and the other Windows kidz are hurtin' after Longhorn was revealed to be a "trainwreck." Have fun using Windows XP for another two years. OS X gets faster with each release, not more bloated, like Windows. And we already have Longwait's featureset. That must suck for Windows kidz.

tick tock tick tock tick tock Two more years of Windows XP. tick tock tick tock tick tock...

The "new" format is the same as the old except it doesn't have convenient headings in bold.

Maybe Paul could give us some info on Longhorn's accelerated graphics...oh, wait, that's already in OS X. Well, how about some info on the built-in desktop search capabilities...oh, that's in OS X too. Maybe he could tell us about the default least-privileged user account...oh, yeah, OS X has already run that way. How about telling us about having zero known viruses and trojans...oh, that's OS X, not Windows. Dang. Why do Windows users even stay with XP? You're stuck with it another two years, and even after that you're only getting features Tiger already has today. I think Windows users just use Windows for their videogames. Nothing more. Why not just buy an X-Box for games and get a real computer you won't need to upgrade every year to run the latest version of Windows bloatware? 3ghz for Longhorn, you've got to be kidding me! What a bunch of suckers you are.

"3ghz for Longhorn, you've got to be kidding me! What a bunch of suckers you are." that's windows users for you...they're happy to have windows get more bloated with each release, and then complain when Mac users point out that windows has ripped off the latest os x feature you guys have been ripping on macs for years, and now windows has turned out to be a huge embarrassment especially security-wise...anyone remember when all the computers in the world started rebooting thanks to Blaster? that's scary, that one company's poor coding affected the entire world...windows is a complete joke

Paul I don't give a fuk_ I scroll to the bottom just so I can take the **** quicker, a-wipe!

Please changed back to the old style. Much more convient. P.S. Are you being fruity like this because you have nothing to report on?

You know, I'm glad that OS X gets faster with each release. That means it may soon be as fast as OS 9 (released October 23, 1999)... As soon as you reach speeds clocked by pre-2000 technology, we'll even pop the corks off the champaign.

"I should have mentioned this last week. The Mozilla Foundation recently celebrated *50 million downloads* of its Firefox Web browser. Bravo." Each service pack counts as a download and we're on 1.0.3 right now. So downloads does not equate to users or market share. Nice browser though. I just wish it would work on more sites.

"You know, I'm glad that OS X gets faster with each release." Good, because it's such a novelty compared to you Windows users who bend over and take it from Microsoft when every new Windows release actually gets slower on the same hardware. 3ghz for Longhorn? Hahahaha!! Tick tock...tick tock...two more years of Windows XP.

"You know, I'm glad that OS X gets faster with each release. That means it may soon be as fast as OS 9 (released October 23, 1999)... " Sorry, kidz, OS X got as fast as OS 9 with Jaguar way back in 2002. "As soon as you reach speeds clocked by pre-2000 technology, we'll even pop the corks off the champaign." Let me know when the Windows XP shell ever gets as snappy as the Windows 95 shell from TEN YEARS AGO. Next.

"OS X is better than Windows." -- Paul Thurrott, http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/longhorn_5048.asp

Yes I do believe its going to speed up - and no magic involved. This is pre-Beta software and if you read Paul's reviews they had to take a big step backwards. Microsoft have also stated that you wont get the full graphics experience without an accelerated 3D card. None of this is working yet so everything you se today is running in 'emulation' mode - hence it runs like a dog. Microsoft have built there business on creating software on the assumption that the hardware will get faster - it's always happened that way too. Not the (limited) experience I've had with Apple's in the past.

"This is pre-Beta software and if you read Paul's reviews they had to take a big step backwards." They didn't just take a step backwards, they STARTED OVER FROM SCRATCH after last year's WinHEC build. Come on, guys, the writing is on the wall. Even Paul is admitting OS X is better than Windows and beat it out the gate with modern features like desktop search.

P.S. All I'm saying is, Longhorn needs to be a hit out of the park, and right now, it doesn't look like it will be. It won't affect the Windows monopoly initially, but it will hold back popular computing for it to lack features other systems have. That's all I mean.

Here's a hypothesis for how future builds of Longhorn could end up faster... Longhorn's Windows API (WinFX) is presumably written in .NET and optimized for .NET apps. Any program compiled to run on the *old* Win32 API presumably has to be run by a Win32 emulator that underneath the hood is really just a layer on top of WinFX. Therefore, any program written for Win32 would run slower than if it were rewritten in .NET. And the current Longhorn build presumably still ships with a bunch of Win32 compiled programs that will eventually be native .NET programs... IE, media player...etc? P.S. I prefer the old title based format of the WinInfo Short Takes... easier to skim and scan (no offense).

hmmm...my windows XP machine has modern search...it's called MSN Desktop Search. It kicks butt and I got it for free. You MAC guys are such suckers when it comes to dishing out $$$ to Apple for a small incremental release such as Tiger...which buy the way is buggier than H! Ever wonder why it's taken a while to get Longhorn out the door? Well it's because it is a MAJOR MODERN OS/Release that will be the foundation for the next 10 years of all MS OS's. PS. Paul, please go back to the old format!

"hmmm...my windows XP machine has modern search...it's called MSN Desktop Search. It kicks butt and I got it for free." Ahahaha. Can "MSN Desktop Search" search through Photoshop files and PDFs? Can it save Smart Folders wherever I want? Does it integrate with my mail, address book, and other apps? Next. "You MAC guys are such suckers when it comes to dishing out $$$ to Apple for a small incremental release such as Tiger" Just like Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP? "...which buy the way is buggier than H! Ever wonder why it's taken a while to get Longhorn out the door? Well it's because it is a MAJOR MODERN OS/Release that will be the foundation for the next 10 years of all MS OS's." No, it's because Microsoft secretly started over from scratch last year because the codebase was getting too unwieldy. Read the new Winsupersite review. Stop being in denial, man. It's over.

"You MAC guys are such suckers when it comes to dishing out $$$ to Apple for a small incremental release such as Tiger" Uh, if over 200+ features is a small incremental release, what's Longhorn? Longhorn is just some new graphics and a desktop search. That stuff's already in OS X Tiger.

"windows = 94% market share. Mac = 1% market share. enough said." Britney Spears sells more CDs than Mozart. 'nuff said. Look up "convicted monopolist who signed illegal deals with OEMs" sometime and find out why Microsoft got where it's at. OS/2 was superior, but you'd never realize you could have been using a superior OS all throughout the 90s because Microsoft made sure you couldn't. Meanwhile, Apple's marketshare is doubling this year while Microsoft's is dropping. Ouch.

The best part of Paul's Longhorn 5048 review on Winsupersite is the screenshot of Longhorn's IE with www.apple.com loaded up. :) Nice jab, Paul...hope Microsoft can pull it together.

"Ever wonder why it's taken a while to get Longhorn out the door? Well it's because it is a MAJOR MODERN OS/Release that will be the foundation for the next 10 years of all MS OS's" Wow, the Microsoft spin is making me dizzy. It's late because, as Paul said, Microsoft is 100s of little groups all trying to work on the same codebase. Microsoft is collapsing under its own weight. Haven't you wondered how Apple somehow managed to pump out almost yearly OS X updates and snuck desktop search out the door in 18 months when it's taken Microsoft years? It's because OS X's dev team is smaller and therefore more focused. Serious management changes need to happen at Microsoft. They're spread way too thin.

actually, mac's install base is up there in the 5% and 6%. windows is certainly larger since it powers things like cash registers and atms (snicker) i love seeing blue-screens on the ceiling monitors when i go to the airport. sad and hilarious

Ugh, looking at those Longhorn start menu shots, it appears Microsoft still hasn't learned that people HATE navigating tiny heirarchy lists. One of the reasons people like OS X so much is because the icons are big, making the click target box big. Navigating a vertical heirarchy list with a mouse is a pain. Cute little search box to launch apps, though (Spotlight serves the same function). What a weird release.

*Easy* on the *asterisks* If *everything* is emphasized, then *nothing* is emphasized.

"Look up "convicted monopolist who signed illegal deals with OEMs" sometime and find out why Microsoft got where it's at." Yeah, Google "blue box" and "Captain Crunch" and find out what Steve and Woz got started. Ha, ha. Woz has a pretty funny account of them sitting in the back of a police cruiser shaking with fear because they thought they'd been busted.

"Yeah, Google "blue box" and "Captain Crunch" and find out what Steve and Woz got started. Ha, ha. Woz has a pretty funny account of them sitting in the back of a police cruiser shaking with fear because they thought they'd been busted." Uh, so you're saying Apple became successful because Steve and Woz had blue boxes before starting Apple? ROFL. Not only does that not make sense, but it doesn't compare Wow, Windows users really have nothing to offer. tick tock tick tock...two more years of Windows XP. "OS X is simply better than Windows." -- Paul Thurrott

The tone of the new format is more approachable and conversational than the old, but also requires that the topics flow more necessarily and narratively from one to the other. I suggest making it less choppy/blurby, but keep some kind of *topic identifiers.* Boldface or CAPS might make topics stand out more than asterisks.

A step backwards here. Why have you just decided to ignore basic layout? You should structure this page as you have always done - with sub-headings!

"Uh, so you're saying Apple became successful because Steve and Woz had blue boxes before starting Apple?" No, I'm not part of your stupid little argument about whose 'OS' is bigger. I'm just pulling your chain. It's not even fun--you're too easy. Get a life or a sense of humor or both.

Longhorn is still very much beta. Performance tweaking is probably still outstanding. I haven't gotten my hands on a copy but there still might be debugging hooks in the these pre-beta releases ..

What does every discussion has to be Mac vs. Windows. By the way: google desktop search for windows works just fine

I like the new format. Also to all the Mac guys: I am 20 years old and every Mac I have ever used (and I have used os x ) has crashed on me. I have had problems logging on, playing games, and even writing a simple word document. I have windows xp on my computer and for a while I had Red Hat Linux duel booted and guess what, my computer never crashed. I even built my own computer so if a poor college student (who has taken no formal tech classes) can make a computer run fast and reliably, why can't a trained computer engineer at Apple do it? They can't and that's why Apple will never catch on because people don't want to hard-restart there computers every 2 min.

--"They can't and that's why Apple will never catch on because people don't want to hard-restart there computers every 2 min"-- That is just as stupid as the pro-Mac argument Windows crashes like hell. I don't know what you have done to these Macs, but in my experience, Macs and Windows PCs crash not very often, but they do crash once in a while. I can't quite remember when my Windows box crashed the last time, but I also don't remember when my Mac crashed the last time. And can't we please discuss what is in the article, and don't always get down to these stupid OS wars? And if we have to go OS war, can't we stay with the facts? Arguments like "Windows has more market share, so there!" and "Mahaha, WinBlows crashes like hell. And it is ugly anyway" don't help a bit. It seems to me like the average age of the commentators must be 12 or so...

"seems to me like the average age of the commentators must be 12 or so..." That's too charitable. My guess is that some of them are barely potty trained.

"Convert to Mac OS! Become a narrow-minded troll like us! We spend all our time bashing Windows and users on sites like Paul Thurrott's. Remember, if you don't use MacOS, you suck and are a real a$$hole stup1d muthafukka and deserve to die a horrible death."