[phoenix0468]

...example of the attention to detail that makes them fun to use.

This in and of itself is the essential difference between Redmond and every other OS vendor in the World. Everything that goes into Widows is a "feature" whether it has a use or not. Form before function is the mantra at Microsoft headquarters aparently. Whereas those in Cupertino build the form around the function and do it quite nicely. There's a reason you don't put okra in stew (regardless of how much you like it fried).

[Echo Talon]

wonder why the EU doesn't go after Apple for the extra stuff... like they do to Microsoft and Windows Media Player..

[HangnJudge]

There's a reason you don't put okra in stew (regardless of how much you like it fried)

I love Gumbo, it is clearly a stewed okra base

[antiRepublicrat]

Everything that goes into Widows is a "feature" whether it has a use or not. Form before function is the mantra at Microsoft headquarters aparently.

At Microsoft anyone can come up with a feature and try to get it put into their software. While you may think this is good for innovation, these features aren't well vetted to see if they fit into the overall scheme and usability. That's how you get personalized menus, one of the worst user interface features ever.

Apple had their own problems though. Dragging a disk to the trash to eject it was their Ctrl-Alt-Del (a developer shortcut that got put into production). It's completely counter-intuitive, but they've fixed it now.