I agree with you in general Don. My intention with my many grumpy remarks was not to further a fanboy pro-Apple partisan agenda. I'm way too fair and balanced for that. I too have used and continue to use all kinds of OS's, and you're entirely right that under straight-and-level "ordinary" conditions there's not that much difference among them.
This discussion, however, is about transition. Microsoft makes a big deal about new releases, including frequently exaggerated claims about the benefits of their latest. Both Apple and Microsoft have new releases in play right now, so this is a legitimate time to bring the issue up. And, in my view, there really is a substantial difference between those two players in the transition department.
When transitions happen every year or two or three, Microsoft's scheme is designed to be painful, and Apple's scheme is designed to be painless, where pain = wasteful of time and money. This has been an issue for years. The tired argument in Microsoft's defense (that it must deal with a more open and therefore larger and less tractable universe of supported hardware), while true, is way too old to retain much weight for a company that employs the best minds in the field and spends billions on R&D. They've had plenty of time to think about this issue and fix it. But what have they done? Well, either nothing (if you ask me) or they've made it even worse (if you ask, for example, me again).
--QS |
