> Now here's a question: my son is going off to college and I want to get him
> a portable computer... he says he'd rather have
> an Win 98 or some kind of Microsoft-based thing...cause there's more
> applications .... and all his friends have one, etc.
>
> What should I do?
I also prefer Macs but have used both for some years. The main drawback to Wintel, besides the support to Gates and his fellow gangsters, is that the file management system of Windows is completely incomprehensible. But this, obviously, doesn't bother many youngsters.
As far as Mac hardware goes, I recently had an iMac, less that three years old, explode into irreparability. That has never happened to me on a Wintel machine, however cheap. The repair shop said they'd had experiences with many exploding iMacs.
Finally, I am still using old Mac software, OS 9.X, which continues to crash from time to time. I am going to switch to more-stable OS X at some point when I have the time to install it and mess around with it. My experience with both Windows 3.X and 98 over many years was virtually crashproof.
If your son wants a Wintel machine, get it for him. It will work fine. Your boycott of Windows, unfortunately, won't affect the Gates regime. Wintel machines tend to be substantially cheaper than Apples.
Hope this helps.
Mike Ferro Oakland