Daniel, I can't imagine who would argue with you. Whichever approach you prefer, there's clearly a huge distinction between Apple and Microsoft as far as design approach in that way; you couldn't be more right. The only argument I might have is that, even as essential as these design approaches are, they *aren't* necessarily the reason you choose ...

"If AAC didn't replace MP3, it's a failure. That was the point, right?" Well, no -- it's not. AAC is widely used as the audio stream for video, not only by Apple. It's very likely powering audio in videos you're watching online. That's not to say AAC hasn't been a failure -- but then, it's not so much the *format* failed as people ...

Hmmm... now can anyone get the Silverlight plug-in working properly in Firefox? Prior to beta 2, it crashed (as the Silverlight folks have documented, faulting Mozilla). Now it just shows the "Get Silverlight" icon.

I wouldn't throw out scalable graphics so quickly. I just had the challenge of teaching a great aunt to use a computer. She's legally blind -- she can see, but not at standard screen resolutions. She was taught to use a really awful program that tries to scale Windows UI elements. It's not possible, because it's not architected into the ...

Hang on, if we're actually suggesting iWork over OpenOffice, we've definitely entered the twilight zone. That application suite is beautifully designed -- and wildly incompatible, missing key features, and often buggy. For what it's worth, I've written for official Apple publisher and Mac-centric publishing house Peachpit and for Macworld ...

I think commenters are missing the point. I agree with Paul that the software result was problematic. But the whole idea of the XO laptop was *supposed* to be using it as a learning tool. There's an excellent criticism here: radian.org/.../sic-transit-gloria-laptopi Saying this is Linux vs. Windows is a massive oversimplification. I think the ...

Nice! I'd seen a couple of similar apps, of course, but I agree -- this feels like the spiritual successor to TweakUI. Great find!

Actually, your low-end BMW (or Merc, or whatever) is in fact more expensive with the same "specs." You're paying for the nameplate. Likewise, you could look at that 9-16% margin as paying for the nameplate ... and, as with cars, the people who do assume they're getting more value/quality, which I think you could argue in regards to Mac ...

Well, Paul, I'm not sure Jason O'Grady being critical of Apple will be a shock to anyone -- to me (and I'm biased; once upon a time I was a PowerPage contributor), the shock is that there's not more widespread, healthy criticism in general. And yeah, criticism IS healthy. The AIR clearly isn't for everyone -- and Jason says honestly, personally ...

Oh, come on ... surely we can stop talking about what "they" are doing. The Mac community is a big community. I just got trashed a couple of days ago for something I wrote months ago by a Windows user who started going off about Mac users and concluded with "where do you get off?" -- all because I was complaining about some ...