Microsoft has actually improved quite a bit. From Win2k onward, Microsoft has been producing pretty solid operating systems. About the only time you will see Windows XP blue screen will be because of faulty drivers or faulty hardware. My Windows 2003 server at work has actually been running for 30 days straight without a problem or a reboot. The other two Windows 2003 servers that I manage have been the same way. I'm also hearing good stories about Microsoft's latest version of it's database server software. Stories of it managing terabytes of information without a problem.
I probably should mention that I am an exclusive Microsoft user and have been since the very beginning of the computer ear. I bitch about MS, but I use MS, I buy MS. The Win XP that I have been using for the past 2 years or so is the best MS product yet, but I do still bitch about it from time to time.
I love reading ignorant "Linux" junkie crap like this. It brings a smile to my face.
I think Anthony Michael Hall said it best when he played Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley......
Steve Jobs: We're better than you are! We have better stuff.
Bill Gates: You don't get it, Steve. That doesn't matter!
Thanks, Hugh Janblack, Nothing more needs said!
After going through Windows '95, '98, Windows ME and XP, I finally switched too. Wondering, why the heck I didn't do it sooner! Soooo nice NOT having to deal with various Adware, Spyware and Malware killers! Or other 3rd party ANTI something or other... one had to have! The ever bloating software meant more & more RAM which eventually led to a new PC. And on and on... it 'still' goes.
Is it any wonder that people eventually turn ANTI Microsoft?
I wouldn't be surprised if Macs started having problems with spyware within the next 9 months. I expect that once the switch to Intel is complete, there's going to be a surge in the number of people using OS X, thus making for a larger target.
As for the RAM problem, why did you just buy a new PC? For around $150, you could have bought a single 512mb DIMM of RAM. And a Pentium III is more than enough to run Windows XP on. That's a whole lot less than shelling out a lot of money for new Apple hardware.
Whoever wrote the article sucks. 50% of it is blatant lying, unsubstantiated spin, or blind faith that non-microsoft isn't doing the same.
Case in point: bloat, open office 1.X, open office 2.x, and office 2003.
OO1.X was lean and mean. OO2.0 is actually more CPU hungry and less memory efficient than office 2003. Feature wise OO2.0 is more of a match for office 2003, but man did it bloat and become slow. Much of which is in areas it used to excell at and no value was added.
Lots of open source is bloating, and there reason is largely the same reason as microsoft. AS more comprehensive open source development tools come out, more open source libraries for drop in features and reusable code, and developer churn on large projects occurs, you get more bloat. You develop more comprehensive apps that look prettier and do more faster than ever before, but they are not lean, mean, and efficient anymore.
It's not a conspiracy.
The article would go a lot farther keeping the 50% that is actually accurate criticism.
Gramps
A computer geek friend of mine has been using the same joke since the early 1990's and it is probably just as true now. It goes like this;
The only way Microsoft will ever make a product that doesn't suck, will be when they launch a Microsoft line of vacuum cleaners.