I'm in that category, even if I don't follow all the same fads as most of them. And I vastly prefer Macs.
I now have a Mac on my desktop at work (connected to a vast network of other machines, mostly running Sun Solaris, and one running linux I need for porting purposes) and a Mac is also my #1 machine at home. At home I also use Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows 95, and Amiga 3.1. All do something different that they are best suited for. (For example, I need Windows 95 on an ISA bus machine to best run Liberty Audiosuite 3.)
I have a Windows XP machine because I need to run various programs on it that don't run on anything else. It's also my fastest machine at home right now too, but I hope to change that this year by getting a new Mac Pro as soon as I can get around to it.
Windows is ugly, and the windows machine I bought was further loaded with horrible adware, demoware, bloatware, and virus/internet protection that nearly completely disables the machine. I now have protection turned off mostly (it's nearly impossible to remove entirely even if you want to, the worst virus of all IMO). But you really feel that you do not own the machine. It is owned by Microsoft and Norton and many other software companies, who only grudgingly you use it, and sometimes decide not to for mysterious reasons.
I also like the fact that on Mac I get full Unix terminals, just like I've been using at work for 17 years. Since OS X, Mac has become a very respectable geek machine. It's listed on the banner of a geek organization I belong to (along with everything else I've mention here, except Windows).
I was fiddling around with linux and BSD for a few years at home. I think they're much better now. But I was having so much trouble getting stuff *I* wanted to do done (like stream a whole Democracy Now! program without hanging up), one of my even more uber geek friends suggested I just get a Mac. I got a Blue/White G3 nearly free, put OS X on it, and I haven't looked back. I don't want to have to mess with operating systems more than I have to. At work, we have professionals take care of that. At home, I've spent more unhappy hours messing with Windows than anything else. I think I re-installed Windows 9x about 500 times. I haven't had to (or dared) to re-install XP, but I actually thought 98 was a much more intuitive, reflexive, and open system. Sure, it had it's quirks, but they were forgiveable weaknesses, not muscle bound tyranny. It's been downhill since then, reportedly even faster down to Vista. If I ever have to go there, I'll just buy another machine.
If you have a linux geek friend who takes care of you well, or get a linux disk that just works for you right off, that would be fine. But oftimes linux geek acquaintances tend to be more interested in showing off technological prowess while your system moves further and further away from what you actually wanted it to do.
Charles Peterson San Antonio, TX
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