is right on the money. As for you feather boy, watch your language ya dish rag! You don't have to like someone's opinion but you don't have to be insulting either. If you can't help yourself, go play elsewhere. I hear Microsoft employs the trash, you know, for 'innovation'.

all it's doing is allowing Macs to (1) install and (2) boot up into Windows. Once you get passed those two processes, you are in Mac OS X or you are in Windows. Boot Camp is out of the picture. So I think it is legitimate for analysts to consider this an added capablity of Intel Macs and advise investors accordingly.

"Man, I hate that freakin' argument. But what if you don't want all the stuff in a mac?"

Then instead of buying a BMW or a Porsche, go to your local hyundai dealer... if you are compaing luxury automobiles, hyundai's no where to be found. so the arguement has merit, like it or not.

And if the average home user doesnt make movies or web pages.. what makes you think they will need 8 USB ports? lame arguement man...

insert Windows into a Mac, and Apple stock jumps 15% (billions?) what a way to make a ton of money, add Windows

Any savvy consumer will pay $2.00 for power cable at NewEgg.com and get an OEM version of Windows XP for $85.00.

I think it's unfair to make the whole "Why would developers bother with Mac now?" argument. Here's why: Macs don't ship with Windows installed. Adobe (for instance) can't simply assume that anyone who wants to use their software will also want to pony up a couple hundred bucks for a copy of Windows. They know that's a stupid assumption. They can't simply quit supporting the Mac, because they'd lose quite a few sales. I don't think they're simple enough minds to assume XP on every Mac. It's just not going to be that way.

They said Adobe runs faster in OSX on Intel Macs, not on Windows!

Dashiel - answer is the majority of PCs do not come with an XP install disk, but a disk image tailored for that specific hardware. In fact I was unable to recover my last PC as I'm updated the BIOS (to allow me to install a larger disk) and it no longer recognised it as the same machine.

Corporates and large companies, on the other hand, often have site licences.

Of course most people will just use a pirate version - who needs security updates if you're ONLY going to use it for games.

Dahlbryn - developers will carry on with OS/X applications for the same reason they have developed OS/X applications when Apple have had a 3% 'market share' (a debatable number). Adobe could have told their customers to migrate to Windows at any point in the last few years. They haven't. MS see money in doing an OS X port of Office, rather than bundling Office with a restricted version of Virtual PC that would let you run Office XP on a Mac.

It's about understanding why your customers bought a Mac in the first place. There is ALWAYS a market for something different (if OS X goes, it will be Linux). Equally, Adobe once had competitors who went Windows only.

Anal-ists, they think they no it all and can predict everything. Most of the time there dead wrong! I think this is going to make the Mac even more desirable than ever to buy. You not only get the best hardware but now you get the best OS being OSX and also the option to run Windows if you are a switcher. And in a full blown state that runs as quick or quicker than any Dell you could find.

Then instead of buying a BMW or a Porsche, go to your local hyundai dealer... if you are compaing luxury automobiles, hyundai's no where to be found. so the arguement has merit, like it or not. It has merit if you're comparing 'luxury'. But most people don't buy luxury, they buy hondas or Toyotas. Why, because they can't afford or just don't want to pay for a lot of fluff.

But I guess you prefer the Apple niche of just those people who can afford them.

Oh, and the argument that macs last twice as long as PCs is also a specious argument. I, for one, don't buy macs that often because of all the money I shelled out to buy my last one. PC users, however, can get two for the price of one, and aren't staggering with 5 year old tech when running that latest version of windows....

And if the average home user doesnt make movies or web pages.. what makes you think they will need 8 USB ports? lame arguement man...

Well, on my computer, it was (1) One for the keyboard

Well, on my computer, it was (1) One for the keyboard (2) One for the UPS

That's it for the back, now on to the front one

(3) Printer

Which has to be swapped out for anything else, like USB key, camera, external harddrive, iPod, etc, etc, etc.

And if its not bad enough that they have only three, its worse the way apple basically lies about it. They claim '5' USB ports, of course one is needed for the keyboard, and they count two ports on the keyboard, even if one is needed for the mouse.

Corporates and large companies, on the other hand, often have site licences.

Actually, site licenses may not cover installing Windows on a mac. I only say ths because my boss was on Dell's site today looking for a cheap computer to use for a server, and I noticed a desktop section titled "Open-source desktops". Intrigued, I had him click the link, and it pointed to some computers dell sells with just ProDos on them. But they specifically say "These are not legitamate for installing site licensed versions of Windows". So maybe the mac falls under the same category?

Of course most people will just use a pirate version - who needs security updates if you're ONLY going to use it for games. Great! Can we pirate OS X and iLife too?

Dahlbryn - developers will carry on with OS/X applications for the same reason they have developed OS/X applications when Apple have had a 3% 'market share' (a debatable number). Adobe could have told their customers to migrate to Windows at any point in the last few years. They haven't. MS see money in doing an OS X port of Office, rather than bundling Office with a restricted version of Virtual PC that would let you run Office XP on a Mac.

Hmmm, I guess this is why the number of Mac software titles always seems to be getting smaller? Adobe has pulled the plugs on several OS X titles. MS pulled the plug on media player. Other products just blow compared to their windows versions (take Quicken - PLEASE!), and there's no other competition in the OS X space.

I really don't see people shedding the market. But I also don't see a big influx of new developement for OS X. Why should some PC-only company attempt to come out with some competing product to Quicken (again, that example!) when they can just tell people "Hey, get Leopard and run our Windows product on your mac as-is!"

BTW, in my view, the only good Windows virtualization won't be just a classic-like emulator, but one which makes the screens and menus work like an OS X app, not a windows app running in OS X (so, for example, X-11 just doesn't do it right).

You wrote "And if its not bad enough that they have only three, its worse the way apple basically lies about it. They claim '5' USB ports, of course one is needed for the keyboard, and they count two ports on the keyboard, even if one is needed for the mouse."

Dell will turn around and say they have x many ports, but they generally provide none on the keyboard, and therefore two (on some systems, a specific two even) are immediately occupied by both keyboard and mouse.

It's not great, but both sides do it. It's not just Apple doing this :)

... clouded by testudo and louzer doing their best analysis in the tradition of Bill O'Reilly.

Macs don't cost twice as much as PC's. M$ has onerous licensing rules. Adobe will support MacOSX as long as creative shops with Macs and Mac tech support want to keep Macs and avoid Windows virus problems. They won't cut off Mac development, which isn't that much more work, to chance Apple taking over that 40% of their market. That would be a needless risk and Adobe isn't into needless risks.

But the world could use healthy competition for Adobe.