Settle down Yitz and scrabble!The two of you started off as an interesting argument, but now you're getting way too emotionally involved!
Yitz, like I mentioned before, don't hate Apple for catering to a niche market... In fact, Dan even said he respects them for making a marketing move that saved their company financially (even though they sold out in the eyes of Apple fanbois).
And scrable, at some point you're going to need to come to the realization that while Macs are great for a specific demographic, the majority of hardcore users will never recognize it as a viable computing platform for the things they want to do. The things Yitz was talking about doing (hacking together and compiling a customized firmware for our phones and flashing them as new roms) WILL NOT WORK on a Mac, as well as many of the things that I personally do on my PC on a regular basis. I do, however, consider myself a power user, and I recognize that most people won't have the same needs as I do. That's why I recommend Mac OS for certain people- its just not for me.
In fact, I enjoy using Mac OS, even when running on Windows hardware (yes, by the way, you CAN do that. I have a colleague to installs Mac OS on standard PC's all the time as a side job... more info on that:
http://uneasysilence.com/os-x-proven-hacked-and-running-on-an-ordinary-pc/), however it still can't run the development environment that I like to tinker in (even in an emulator, I need direct access to the com ports which doesn't work in emulation), nor does it run many of the pro-grade software or hardware that I prefer using for my hobbies or work (real time editing cards, suite of motion capture and animation tools, etc).
The sad truth is that Windows PC's still have far more software and hardware available than Macs do, and the end result is that not all the same things will work on a Mac, however the Windows PC can still do all the things a Mac can. I'm not saying that makes either superior, but if you're going to argue about functionality, scrable, you won't win.
The terminal... I'm having trouble understanding why you think that would convince us that the Mac OS is for "Advanced Users", when the terminal is nothing more than a command prompt, which has existed on every personal computer since the dawn of time.
In fact, the Mac OS terminal, which is based on a BSD Unix command line, is ALSO dumbed down!
Yes, did you know that Apple tried to even make THAT more user friendly by modifying some of the commands, and changing things like case-sensitivity? The end result is that hardcore advanced linux users who think they can now run their favorite BSD compatible scripts are going to run into problems.
As far as hardware goes, Mac hardware isn't superior, not any more at least, as I mentioned earlier, since they use identical hardware. And that laptop review that you linked to (macbook running Vista faster than other PC laptops), was comparing the 2.4ghz macbook pro to a 2.2ghz Gateway laptop. The Macbook used a faster CPU, and cost more, and
that's why its faster (and more expensive). I mean, seriously, why would you believe that the same hardware would be faster if it sits inside an Apple branded box? Did you think that because the Apple Rabbi "blesses" the laptop with the Apple insignia, it magically makes the identical Intel chip run faster?
Same hardware + Same software = exact same results.
Scrable, this is an argument you can not win.
Apple makes great mainstream products for the masses, but they ARE more expensive "boutique" computers that are a lot of glitz and glam, and little else. For the average user, this is great. For people like me, its useless.
Yes, iLife exists only on a mac. iLife is merely consumer-grade software, however, which means anyone in the professional industry, or pro-sumer class hobbyists who take their media passion to heart aren't even remotely interested in iLife. I have a few coworkers in the graphics industry who use Macs, mostly because they're fashionable people and want the fashionable product. However, none of them have any use for iLife. Forget garage band and use Pro Tools or Audition, forget iMovie and use Premiere or Avid... see where I'm going with this?
iLife is a simple product for simple people. If you're going to continue to tout THAT as why Macs are better, than clearly you fall into the demographic I have been describing for Apple's computers: a very simple home computer user who wants everything spoonfed. That's fine. That's what they're here for.
Now, back to the topic... should we HATE Apple for creating computers for this demographic?
I say no.
But its very frustrating when people put them up on that pedestal as the greatest computing platform of all time.