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Macs are overpriced and as you say, the architecture is closed. PC's are commodity priced and there are open standards and architecture (although who knows that may change). Of course, the architecture issues and OS issues are, in theory, separable, although in most people's minds they are linked. The combination of PC architecture and Windows OS, is like it or not, a standard that will be with us for a long time and hard for anyone to overcome. The best thing about Windows, IMHO, it how it detects and runs a myriad of hardware, it is very good at integrating the unbelievable array of hardware that is out there. Plug and Play has become more of a reality than a joke, which it was when it first came out. The worst thing about Windows is the lack of a firewall between OS and application. There are far too many hooks inside the OS for Microsoft's app, Internet Explorer being the worst offender. A problem with IE, should not "matter" to the OS, but it does. The trouble with Microsoft is that it doesn't know if it is a OS company or a Application company. The trouble with Apple is that it doesn't know if it is an OS company, or a hardware company. For the record, my preference is some flavor of unix.