I'm sure it's true that windows machines need a little more understanding of computer technologies in general, and will possibly present big problems for less technically able people, and Macs can be simpler to work with.

This is wayyy different now, however, compared to past...only a few years back PC's by and large were shoddily made and drivers whatever, and Xp required a lot of work and TLC. Besides, very often people when building/buying PC's bought the cheapest possible crap, so no wonder they gave problems.

It's way better now along with w7, but there are still some things you need to know how to arrange. Ok you get viruskillers and spyware cleaners free from Microsoft, but you still need to install them manually.

I'm a Windows man myself, for simple reasons. I need to know how things work and make them work like I want them to work.

My friend used an iMac of some sort, mainly for music, and talked about how easy and nice it was. I spent a while on his machine and tested out some programs, and seemed to me there were many many things missing on the machine he'd used before on PC. I asked about them and he shrugged - they're so expensive to get on Mac. But I've learnt to live without them OK?!?

Then one day his harddisk died. He asked me to help but I had no idea what to do to get his work back. He didn't. Sent the whole machine away for a few weeks(!) Got a new HD and now he backs up to an external one. BUT he's not quite sure what backs up and what not, as he doesn't really know where the data is physically for what subsystem.

I hate that kind of thing. I just lost a HD due to a failure. So, it took me 20 minutes to get the windows back online and I lost _nothing_ except a few latest mix settings I had done over the summer and had only kept in a temp folder. It still was a pain, but all the data was there. Basically, I still have like configs and stuff from like 1997 there if I need 'em.

That's because I keep, like, say VST plugin presets on a completely different drive than my system. I keep a system image on one disk, and all datas on their respective disks or partitions. If I lose any of my disks, I don't need to restore the entire system but just the missing partition. On one partition I keep installation files of almost everything. So if I need to reinstall, say Cubase or Office or whatever, I don't need to go get the actual disks, just run the installer off the storage HD. Some programs won't let you do that officially, but on a PC system you can find a 'crack' or a loophole for anything and tweak stuff to work like you want to.

I don't know if building a win 7 system gets much cheaper than a mac system, if you use same quality parts, but this I know: you never have to swap the entire machine if you don't want to. I haven't bought a PC since, I dunno, the nineties. I just upgrade components and OS'es every now and then.

Currently my mobo is nearly 4 years old, HD's range from less than 1 to 2 years (I usually sell of HD's over 3 years old and buy new ones) and all the other components something in between. The case is maybe 6 years old. One power supply is quite old at 6 years like the case but the other is only 3 or so.

Anyway. My experience of current macs is shallow. Still, as I've mentioned before, I currently have five...no, since of today, six soundcards from different manufacturers on my system. Would that work in a mac? If you plug in a Stealth Pedal for instance, will Mac OS allow you to run it separately in its own ASIO system and record to another card's ASIO? Somehow I doubt it. Might be wrong.

But, deep down I just hate the Apple approach in many ways. Like I just asked Apple's Services how much for swapping the screen on my almost new iPod and they said it costs about twice the price of a new one plus you won't get your own device/data as replacement necessarily, so forget it. What the hell is the service even for with that kind of an approach?

If I buy a car, I don't want to be locked into having to use their maintenance etc, I want to be able to change the oils etc. myself or have it done anywhere, and not lose warranty etc. It just irks me to no end when companies basically just say you have to use our products like this and no other way, or don't use it.

There's some of that in PC world for instance, with all kinds of automatic update thingies (well Apple's iTunes and Quiktime one of the worst viruses around), but I edit them out of the system and stop them from working.

Even when I install programs I've bought I don't let them install to main drive, or contact the company automatically upon install, but rather handle the registration etc. manually.