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I use Mac, and they aren't trouble free.

It seems like these reports are always vague on the details. (hardware model, memory installed, operating system version, etc.)

They do lock up, programs do freeze.

Yes, if the program contains a logic error, it can go into an infinite loop and freeze. (As a programmer, I do this all the time.) But it's very easy to kill a frozen program with Mac OS X's "Force Quit" command, and the operating system continues to function normally. Application errors are generally not a platform issue.

I hate having to reboot when unreal tourney 2003 won't let me join in.

I'm not familiar with that game, but it sounds like the known issue with the 2225.1 update. When it locks up, does pressing the command+option+escape keys bring up the Force Quit window?

The Xserver hasn't been any more stable!

Are you referring to an Apple Xserve ?

I used to work for a small-town newspaper that used macs, and I hated working on them. However, this was the old power pc mac, and the owner, I don't believe, ever had a legitimate piece of software on any machine. When we'd get low on disk space, he'd just come in and start deleting folders. Frequently, he'd say, "well, if I don't know what it is, it can't hurt to delete it. He also never installed software, but just copied it from one disk to another. Looking back, I'm amazed the machines ran as well as they did.

I used to sound like a lot of the Mac bashers here. When the flat panel iMac came out, I thought, "wow, that's cool." It was time to upgrade my old PC, and after looking around, I settled on the flat-panel iMac. What finally convinced me to go with the iMac was the construction quality. This was when Compaq was putting the colored panels on their computers to make them look like the original iMacs. There was something about the way the flat panel on the iMac would glide smoothly and silently and stop exactly where I wanted, compared to the Compaq with some dorky little panel on front that screechily opened to reveal a cd holder that would hold about 5 cds. I checked the prices on everything, and Sony and IBM were the only companies that had nearly the build quality, and by the time they were equipped like the Mac, they cost more. I had used every version of Windows from the run-time version that came with Excel 1.0 up to 2000. Windows ME finally killed my allegience to MS and the PC system.

When I got the Mac, I noticed that all the things that sort of worked on my old PCs actually worked on the Mac. I realized that the features that were grafted onto the Windows system like trying to nail limbs on a tree were integrated into the Mac seamlessly.

I use a 17" flat panel now, and there's no way I'd ever go back to Windows.

Use an IMac, 256mb Ram, 80gb hd, 1ghz processor. OSX 10.2.8

>>Application errors are generally not a platform issue.

Actually, unless all the code is assembly/C/C++, the problems tend to lay in the way the OS handles memory management, request to libraries, etc.

As far as infinite loops are concerned, not too many production programs on the market have infinite loop problems. (More thread related if anything.)

>>Are you referring to an Apple Xserve

Yes, sorry typo. Sexy server IMO!

Like I said, Macs are no longer "better" -- they are simply sexier! Almost every PC out there pales when sitting next to a Mac -- both externally and in the GUI. Apple must have hired the best designers in the land, cause MS sure doesn't have them!

Graphics on the Windos GUI are a joke. I had to download Mac Icons and run Windows XP with 128x128 icons to even get my desktop to look decent. I also created my own OSX like docking bar (yea, I stole the Icons from the Mac, so sue me.)

But a sexy GUI does not make the Mac "better". It makes it
more enjoyable. In terms of the needs of the average employee, PC's offer much more. The extra overhead is well worth it.

While much of one's daily work can be done on a Mac (with Office for Mac) the files don't always work cross platform. We've had some cross platform problems with PowerPoint for OSX and Office XP. Office 2003 solved some of them, but not all. (Yea, on Office OSX the file was saved down to an earlier version "compatible" with office XP/2000.)

While this isn't a platform issue, it does mean that it's easier to have XP and pay the higher overhead since clients and employees have PCs. Trying the cross platform thing will jack up overhead costs and thereby negating any savings for using a Mac.