The new Zune stuff is looking really good right now. Like better than iPod + iTunes good.

You're kidding right? Bash Apple all you want, but you have to admit that they create the best user experiences of any company around.

Microsoft has proven for twenty years that it is incapable of creating a good user experience.

Well, having tried both, I probably have a better perspective on the matter. However, I'll defer to authority: http://gizmodo.com/5050410/microsoft-beats-apples-itunes-gen...

Just because apple sux there's no reason to go to microsoft. That's even worse. There are linux players that are pretty good.

I think what's changing is that apple has always been as evil as microsoft. Only with much better PR. They are slipping now because there are new demands for openness which they fail to handle.

That's more or less what I do. Many of my toys are Apple, but I buy my more important stuff elsewhere. As much as I would love to be able to use a Mac for my work, OSX is just not Unix-ish enough for me.

In what ways? I have used OSX at work for years. It is plenty "Unix-ish" for me, and I've been using *nix for twenty-five years.

First, there is this weird thing of programs in the */bin folders versus application structures in .app directories. The next problem is the Terminal - Even xterm is more comfortable to work with, specially when you have a three-button mouse. Then there is the less than stellar X support (I always had lots of problems piping X clients from a beefier computer to my Mac). I also dislike the fact many settings are stored not in files under /etc, but in a database. And, finally, there is no package manager (but that's not a non-Unix thing, it's more a non-Linux thing).

For those reasons, I prefer a Debian-based OS. I keep reading OpenSolaris has a nice package manager that can do rollbacks and may consider it in the future. As for OSX, it's not for me.

Yes, serious, I am getting a Creative Zen Stone Plus right soon . . . Zunes suck :)

I believe in talking with my wallet when it comes to companies.

Buying responsibly is one of the things we can all do.