On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:56:20 -0800, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>sf wrote:
>
>> The average home user has little reason to switch OS.
>
>That depends on how often you buy a new computer. Suppose, hypothetically,
>that your home computer was running an operating system which was obsolete.
>(Windows 98, for example, is no longer supported by Microsoft. Windows XP
>*would* have already been consigned to the "obsolete bin" if not for the
>outcry about how shitty an operating system Vista is.)

Look, we are a mixed family around here - PC and laptops with
Windows, some with Linux and we have Apples, too. The only ones that
have become truly obsolete are the Apples. The PCs can always be
upgraded pretty easily and cheaply, especially with hardware.

>Now suppose that a heinous security flaw was uncovered for your operating
>system: There would be no way of making your computer secure, because nobody
>is writing security patches for that operating system anymore. You could
>lose everything stored on your computer, and there's nothing you could do
>about it.

Um..you know much about Windows OSs? There are a gazillion 3rd party
programs that will handle anything such as you mention. Now I've only
been using home computers with various operating systems for 27 years,
but I have NEVER encountered a situation such as you describe above.
It ain't gonna happen to anyone with an anti-virus program and a brain
bigger than a pea.

In fact, the only person I know who ever lost everything, wiped her
Apple drive in a flash. Yeah, she knew her way around, even well
enough so that she had a full back up.
>
>If you buy a new computer every time a new OS comes out, then you're right;
>you don't need to switch your OS -- because you spend fifteen times as much
>to buy a whole new computer instead.

I have machines that run Win 95, 98, Xp and Vista in this house. I
have never lost my data, found them unusable, had them hacked or
completely obsolete. Apple has a tendency to just stop supporting its
old machines, too, you know. If you know enough about them, you'd know
that. For what it would have cost to get a new, dual processor Apple
to use the software I wanted to do digital video editing (home
style, not professional), I could have bought TWO new PCs.

I can take apart any PC in this house, right down to the board and
tinker with it and upgrade it and futz with it all want. The damn
Apples are not owner serviceable. The only extended warranty I ever
bought for a computer was for an Apple. Damn good thing, too, as the
video repair would have been $800 without it. That only makes sense
to me because I won stock in the company.

Try synching half the smartphones out there with Apples. Try getting
the business apps you need for Apples. Apples are great for artists
and music folks and they have a chunk of that market, but really,
otherwise they are cute to look at and play with and they work really
well with iPods and iPhones. It is only recently that you could even
function with a Blackberry and an Apple.

Now, this isn't to say that there aren't peeps out there that will
love their Apples, like I said, we have a bit of everything around
here, but there isn't anything that makes them better than PCs running
wither Windows or Linux.