Most software I use is available at least on three platforms so most of the time picking an OS is a hardware question for me. Last December I picked HP 2730p over Apple notebook. A tablet PC with track pad and point stick, great keyboard, bright screen and 12 hours of battery life (with a slice battery an wifi turned on). Having so many various input means is actually a very pleasant and engaging experience. Yes, this thing is a but expensive but I don't really care. I think of switching to Mac like most geeks around here (and in order not to feel like an idiot :) but every time I consider my next purchase there's a Windows-based options which suits my needs better.

Vista Business is a great OS and as a user I like it much more than XP or Linux (I used Mandriva a couple of years ago and have Ubuntu HH at work). I know that from architectural point of view Windows is inferior to Unix operating systems but as a user I'm very satisfied with it. I tried Mac (worked a couple of days with it) but didn't find it groundbreaking. I'm working mostly with Java and it's a second class citizen on Mac OS X. My browser of choice doesn't look great on it, too. My editor of choice is not TextMate either.

A usual day for me on Windows starts with firing up a couple of applications and after that OS disappears. On Mac or Linux I constantly feel it. That makes me feel uncomfortable and as a result after a whole day I'm more tired.

I also don't own a smartphone but having wifi and Skype on a mobile phone would be nice. The only Apple product I have is an iPod nano which isn't that bad per se but it comes with iTunes and QuickTime. The former is quite Ok but QuickTime always hijacks my file dependencies and is very annoying.

Mac OS X users today are somewhat similar to Win 98 users in a sense that most of them are ready to pay for desktop software. To my mind your target platform choice is totally reasonable. If I developed an application for Windows I'd picked AIR and did everything in HTML/CSS/JS or played with Why's Shoes. Silverlight might be a good option, too.

I hope surprised you at least a little bit: I love Mac, but I'm a PC :)

Interesting, thanks. I actually didn't switch to Mac until a year or two ago, and previously I had a tablet PC. I really liked Microsoft's approach to ink, but alas I couldn't read my handwriting. Plus the laptop itself had poor battery life and was loud (a Tecra M4). Ah well.

I don't really ink that much, but I found that I use pen as a main pointing device even in a laptop mode, for example, when I browse the web or working with files. And I'm very comfortable with that. The screen can sustain pen's pressure, even when I point elements on the top.

However when I use keyboard I tend to combine pointing stick and track pad to move the mouse. It works very natural both ways and I really enjoy interacting with a computer in this manner.

I prefer not to write anything unless my handwriting is recognized. I like OneNote but I use it mostly for drawing schemes, diagrams, etc. while keeping audio recording on. It's not ideal but still has some valid use cases. So far I used it three times and each next time I end up having better notes.

As for battery I actually considered that, too. My other laptop is a pretty old 15" Dell which after 4 years can stay alive for about an hour and a half only. The power adapter was a huge brick, too. This time I picked up the best battery life money can buy and I don't bother with that anymore.

As I said I'm very satisfied with it and I'm going to use it for quite a while.

Most often Macs are a better choice, but Microsoft invested to much into tablets to give up its domination in this area. This time I've chosen a tablet, but may be next time I'll end up with a Mac just like you.

I hope you read that. You posted your answer 18 days ago, sorry for not replying earlier.

I'd be surprised also. That's kinda why I'm asking, because I do live in a slight monoculture, and I'm keen to get a measure of what's happening "out there".

Thanks for the comments on QT, I hadn't looked at QT for a very long time and it sounds like the licensing is more sane and worth a look!