How Mac fanatics see the world

@mikegalos You say: "Microsoft's committment [sic] to the platform gave Apple's few remaining customers the confidence to stall their transitions away from the Mac long enough for Apple to modernize their aging and confusing product line...So, yeah. Apple was circling the drain and Microsoft pretty much single handedly saved them." Insofar as Microsoft's commitment, let's not forget that they had recently (six months earlier) created the Macintosh Business Unit and had no plans to scuttle it as Mac software was very profitable for them - not to mention that it had the new Office for Mac near completion. In addition, Apple agreed to include Microsoft's IE browser on all new Macs - a much needed concession to fulfill Redmond's obsession to kill Netscape. We can also add that it was in Microsoft's best interest to keep Apple around in order keep countless invaluable patents in Cupertino, as well as appearing less like a monopoly in the eyes of the justice department. That Microsoft pretty much "single handedly" saved them is stretching it, don't you think? I mean come on, Jobs ultimately saved them - and used Microsoft's own interests in the process. As the story goes, it was Jobs who contacted Gates, not the other way around. So now we have the luxury of sitting here, over ten years later, able to see just how that move ultimately played out: iPod=sucess Zune=butt end of jokes iTunes Store = success Zune MarketPlace/Urge/PlaysForSure/Xbox live/etc... = wtf? iPhone = phenomenal success Windows mobile=woefully behind Max OS X=success Vista=epic failure Seriously. Wow. I bet Microsoft rues the day they made that commitment, huh?

Mike, "You're missing a key point. You see to really be a Mac fanatic you have to simultaneously belive BOTH of the following: * Jobs saved Apple from the proverbial apocalypse * There was no apocalypse since Apple was never in trouble" And Windows fanatics believe simultaneously BOTH of these: *that Apple is a threat to Microsoft that needs to be countered in advertisements so that Apple doesn't ruin Microsoft's monopoly control of the computing world and *that Apple is a trivial annoyance with 3% marketshare and should be ignored. This cognitive dissonance is what leads to the sillier outbursts from Paul and some of the more un-hinged *cough! Master3 *cough! in this little echo chamber.