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. . .if you become a “Mac person” you’ll end up virtually ~~computer~~ Windows illiterate and unable to use ~~real~~ Windows-based PCs in the ~~real world~~ environments with insular IT departments.

Computer illiterate? Except for those of us who can write code, or maybe only code in some dialect of C, we're all bloody computer illiterate.

Basically if you use a Mac you don't learn to navigate the ghastly counter-intuitive structure of Windows where all the defaults assume the user is stupid, and the ways to change them are burried (a problem with all MS products, including Office, which even us Mac users have to suffer with), unless you're forced to use a machine with one of the wretched OS on it.

That's a bit like sneering that one is 'tax code illiterate' if one has had the good fortune to only have to fill out Pennsylvania state income tax forms, rather than California state income tax forms.

Computer illiterate? Except for those of us who can write code, or maybe only code in some dialect of C, we're all bloody computer illiterate.

Be that as it may (and I am a 20+ year SW engineer) I've been around the block and have seen what Mac people can do on non-Mac machines and what PC people can do on non-PC machines. Mac people are usually completely lost on anything but a Mac.

I’ve dealt with literally thousands of users to come to this conclusion.

Basically if you use a Mac you don't learn to navigate the ghastly counter-intuitive structure of Windows [...]

MacOS and Windows got their start from the same source. They are very similar and neither has a monopoly on intuitive interface or ease of use.

The Mac (correctly) assumes far more stupidity than the PC.

I would say total cost of ownership is the real guage of what you are paying. Apple wins that.

Even if I were to agree with that I'd still disagree that Macs win.

The base machine usually costs 2 to 3 times as much for the same stuff and Mac upgrades are usually at least twice as expensive. Need more RAM? You can't buy the standard sticks, you need the parity stuff for $100s more - and so on.

Plus Mac software tends to cost more.

As for the virus and malware argument, the real issue is that the coders don’t bother with Macs because nobody uses them. . . that's hardly a real advantage. It can be hard going from an enjoyable user experience to a painful one like you get on Windows.

I'm sorry but I've been using Macs since the original Macintosh and I've been using Windows since version 1. I've found both OSs to be buggy, painful, counter intuitive and annoying at times. I can't make the call which is worse.

Macs are somewhat easier on the basics but if you try to do anything advanced you'll end up cursing more on a Mac than a PC, from my experience.