I know a lot of users that will swear by clean installs on the Mac. I personally almost always use upgrade installs unless I experience some significant difficulty.

"Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out," claims Schiller. "If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?"

Spend a couple hundred to upgrade to Windows 7 or several thousand buying a Mac?? Sorry Phil you're good but you're not as good as Steve. It's not the Phil Reality Distortion Field.... Also the way you handled the whole iPhone app approval process was terrible.

If a user switches platforms, won't they need to back up essential files and purchase and reinstall applications anyway?

As usual, we have the "nothing Apple does is ever good enough" crowd posting first. I personally have three colleagues who have told me "my next computer will definitely be a Mac." All are iPhone users who were so impressed and happy with their first Apple product they made the decision to switch.

As with the I'm a Mac/I'm a PC ads, people nod their heads in agreement. These ads are even now criticized for alienating Windows users but the opposite is true. Sure, the died-in-the-wool Windows fanboys were offended, but the average Joe dealing with the many deficiencies of the Wintel platform saw the truth in those ads.

This is born out by today's comments from analysts describing Apple's upcoming financial reports on Mac sales as "defying all logic". They can't figure out why people are choosing to spend more money on a Mac in these "troubling" times. But they are in droves apparently.

So go get 'em, Phil!

"Spend a couple hundred to upgrade to Windows 7 or several thousand buying a Mac??"

Most all macs were under $2,000. Several indicates more than 2, so you're saying that buying a mac is $3000+??

I certainly hope that Apple and Chiat are working on refreshing the current I'm a Mac/PC commercials - the whole style is getting boring. Either refresh Mac and PC guy in a big way or come up with something new. From the company with the motto "Think Different".

Because so many Windows people are always going out an buying new versions of Windows and installing them. Oh, wait, they don't. I would hazard a guess that most of the people using Windows XP are using it because their machine is old, so it won't support 7 anyways, or they wanted XP, and they wouldn't switch anyways.

And how many are going to rush out to spend $200+ on an OS upgrade? h***, there's a lot of Mac users who'll hold off purchasing a new Mac until they're sure they'll get the new OS version with it (or for a modicum fee). And PC users are a lot cheaper than Mac users.

"Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out," claims Schiller. "If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?"

Maybe they missed the memo (you know, the same one the PPC users got when Snow Leopard was announced). No one has "to go through all that". Their computer/OS is not obsolete and they 'have' to update to Windows 7. And if they're going to go through all that, wouldn't they just buy a new PC with the OS already installed?

Any user who reads that is not going to say "Why not get a mac". They're going to say "Hmmmm, why not just spend no money and just use what I got?"

BTW, MacNN, you're ignoring your own web site. Several other articles here have already stated that no one thinks Windows 7 is going to reinvigorate PC sales.

And I wonder where Phil gets these numbers of a 70% upgrade rate? Are they tracking our OS installations now?

Most all macs were under $2,000. Several indicates more than 2, so you're saying that buying a mac is $3000+??

And how much does the software you want/need to run on your Mac going to cost you, as well? Oh, wait. That's right. Mac users just need iWork and iLife. That does everything a user could want, so there's no need to buy any other applications. Or peripherals.