I'm aware of the free security stuff for XP. I normally put Spybot S&D and AVG Antivirus on all the machines I work on. They're not perfect but they're plenty good. Generally, if people have problems after that, it's because they're doing dangerous things with IM or cruising pron/warez sites or opening macro-ed Office documents or doing stupid thing with email.
The reason why the Mac AV stuff is so pricey is that no one wants it.
You saw the same thing with Norton Antivirus for Palm. There never was a need for it to begin with.
They also ignore the huge time costs of converting to and learning an entirely new operating system from the one that 95% of people have used for many years.
I've yet to see anyone who has taken more than a month to become quite happy with the Mac experience. The learning curve is probably less than switching from current MS Office to Office 2007. Maybe half of the switchers actually find that their productivity goes way up because the Mac's developers focus on ease-of-use and staying out of your way. They don't wizard everything up the wazoo like MS, they make the common tasks very very easy. The integrated approach to documents (photos, music, video, etc.) works very well and requires almost no developer effort.
I'm aware of the free security stuff for XP. OK, as long as you (and others) are aware that your annual costs for PC security software for home use should be $0.
Generally, if people have problems after that, it's because they're doing dangerous things with IM or cruising pron/warez sites or opening macro-ed Office documents or doing stupid thing with email.
Absolutely correct. Even many/most of those problems are prevented by proper system setup and security software.
I've yet to see anyone who has taken more than a month to become quite happy with the Mac experience.
Even given the assumption that a month's lost productivity isn't an issue (how many people can say that?), are you really claiming that even an experienced user, one with years or decades of experience under Windows/DOS, can achieve a similar level of proficiency on a Mac in a month? I don't doubt it may be true for a newbie who might only have a month's worth of PC knowledge but, and no offense, such a claim for someone with more experience stretches the bounds of credibility a little.