In this era of tyrannical moves by our own government there is such a thing as "concern overload." The problems are exacerbated by our own difficulty in articulating clearly to the "sheeple" and to each other, when the language is corrupted with Newspeak terms such as "liberal" meaning "opposed to liberty" while seeming to mean the opposite, "public" and "society" being used when what is actually meant is government, and on and on.In that context discussing things like our favorite sports teams or our favorite operating system can be a welcome, even a needed, diversion. That, plus the obvious practicality that I do my FReeping on my Macintosh and am interested in the future of the computer, makes Swordmaker's Apple pings a welcome sight.
I hope that the courts will slap down the transparent efforts of clone "computer makers" to subvert the premium business model by which Apple has profited by selling good hardware whose effectiveness is multiplied by software which is bundled with the hardware which is aggressively upgraded to enhance the value proposition you perceive in the "showroom." And I hope that the merits computer hardware and operating systems will always be issues which are open to discussion, with a minimum of trolling and a maximum of good humor and toleration here on FR.
Competition is good. It drives innovation, quality control, and keeps prices down by preventing a monopoly.