tell me... will this os come before or after they figure out how to add a right mouse button?

I'm not really debating whether OSX works or looks better than XP. And I do understand the problems involved with accomodating so many types of hardware. I just think it would be good for competition and OS's in general, to have someone try to make a stand against M$.

I guess when you get right down to it, it may make sense for competition but it probably doesn't make good business sense. None the less...I'd love to Apple try! And who better than a lunatic like Steve Jobs?

what do you have against microsoft? the fact that because they have created software that works good enough that it has dominated the computer market? or the fact that you just don't like big corporations and root for underdogs?

Windows XP is a very good operating system. OSX while another good operating system..and equal to xp at both basic state...loses alot because of apple's business practices. They are in my mind a monopoly moreso than microsoft. XP allows many people to create many programs for it because thats was what microsoft meant for them to do. Apple makes most of the good programs for mac, and holds a major monopoly over the mac market. The fact that macs are not inviting to open competition is one major sore point for me against mac. To me they seem stuck up, an elite society so to say. Also the fact that they are so harsh on people imitating...not stealing...doesn't sit well for me. Granted microsoft does have some bad practices, but overall I think they have done a good job. I believe that in the future there won't be companies like microsoft, but right now while we are still in the infancy of computing having a major corporation at its helm has surely helped guide it on the right path.

my rant for the day.
kongit goes back to his well upholstered cave

i hope you didn't aim that at me, travis.. i agree that they make good software, and in pointing out the frivolous lawsuits, i'm saying everybody just wants a peice of the pie 'cause they feel left out of the loop.

this bull about them blocking out their competetors from having a place in the windows enviroment- that's absolute crap. windows gives you the option to uninstall media player if you don't wnat to use it, and windows comes bundled with real player and quicktime as alternatives. most supplies also include other media players, like music match. the reason realplayer doesn't have a place to stand is because the player is crap.

not aimed at anybody specifically, DesignCaddy. I just get mad at all of the people on the net who supposedly "hate" microsoft, yet use their products willingly. I disagree with some of the things Microsoft does, but in terms of software its a pretty good company.

i did have this one major problem with windows media player, and other then this fact i believe it is a GREAT player.. better then itunes.

Windows Media Audio.

a nice idea. a great design. WONDERFUL quality and great compression. but TRY CONVERTING IT TO MP3.. media player won't let ya do it. microsoft doesnt offer software to do it. private companies who have offered software to do it have vanished. roxio will let you do it, but that's an expensive peice of software. and when i did get around to converting my 30 gigs of music into mp3s for the purpose of playing on mp3 ready stereos - i lost 75% of the music. it just vanished, something went wrong in the conversion and wiped out - odly - every song past track 7 on every album. i'm still sad


[Message Edited]

About Microsoft making their own computers: I think they actually are, if you've followed the Longhorn hype, you would probably have seen the prototype, it's been mentioned in the media as well, at least here in Denmark. It's kind of Mac'ish, has a widescreen and a placeholder for a handheld PDA and a webcam. I've seen it several times on various screenshots found via winsupersite.com I think...otherwise look at osnews.com, neowin.net, xbetas.com and geeknewz.com, they usually post stuff like that there.

Regarding the iPod, I won't buy it unless it supports other audio formats than AAC and as long as I'm forced to use iTunes. I want it to pop up as a harddrive where I can dump my files on it. Shouldn't Winamp 5 be able to play AAC files? It let's you rip a CD to either mp3 or AAC...?

There are rumors which I believe are true, that a x86 version of Mac OSX exists. Sort of a backup for Apple, if the s*** hits the fan...it goes under the codename Marklar, which is a word we learned watching South Park Try to search Google. It would - as I understand - be rather easy to make an x86 version of Mac OSX, I think I've read that all that was needed was to write a bunch of drivers for various hardware. Mac OSX is an Apple's twist to an already existing FreeBSD OS called Darwin which itself runs on the x86 architechture...

But for the time being, I don't think Apple even consider going public with a x86 version of Mac OSX, the pretty GUI, the ITMS is just PR to make us buy their (too) expensive hardware, and it seems to be going OK. I use Mac OSX on a daily basis at work, and I'm not that impressed. It doesn't complete me as my Wintel machine does, as I don't feel I have the same freedom on a Mac as in Windows. The apps on Win and Mac are the same - only fewer on Mac, and even though there are differences, they're hardly noticeable. Usually just a matter of keyboard shortcuts.

For the Linux freaks out there, check this link http://www.maconlinux.com

We have a nice brick wall you could hold up for us if you get bored with questing the demise of Microsoft any time soon

XP replaces missing/damaged protected system files WMP and Messenger are included as such

Only to mysteriously return later......... it did on my machine.

like iplural, i've probobly blocked out its return numerous times. i'm also very choosey about window's automatic updates.. i like to cut out the fat.