Originally Posted by Hawat 
I see that overclockers.co.uk has a release date for vista ultimate as 23-01-2007, isn't it supposed to be released the 30-01-2007 ?
I asked them and they said that official launch date is 31/01/07 and that if i get it any sooner than that i should think of it as a bonus.
Bob Crabtree,
OEM part we agree on
My POV for Microsoft is not rosy at all i just dont agree with your argument against.
Online Activation, just think about it. If you create any kind of protection but you keep outside of an area that you can monitor it will get hacked. However by keeping part of the protection on your hardware that you can control then hackers will have very hard time of cracking your protection.
Now while i may have different POV about MS then you but you my friend are down right biased. Conspiracy theories are just that, theories. MS was never happy with only 40% of people using their software to have obtained it legally and with each version of software they levelled up deferences. Now when most people are online everyone will start using this form of protection and not because MS done it first, they will use it because its the best form of copy protection people have at the moment.
On the EU point you say its a matter of record, what record can you just it was because they included Media Player, Messenger and Internet Explorer with every copy of windows? Come on! What kind of monopoly is that? Every OS out there comes with Media and Online applications as standard none of them are getting sued. I personally dont use Media Player i prefer WinAMP, when it comes to DVD's i always used PowerDVD. For online used IE when it was the best option now i use Firefox+IE+Opera and i used to use ICQ instead of Messenger. I was kid that just got a PC for the first time i managed to find my self other software to use instead of the default ones, now tell me if MS did such a bad monopoly on all of us why didnt everyone get a copy of the cut down version of XP?
Mac OS X was developed in stages, and over it years they kept releasing updates. MS made Vista as one big update and instead of paying for new update little bit each year you pay it all at once. MS has said they wont do that again and will now have small updates like OS X.
When people reffered to features of Vista they said that iLife pack, what ever it is, brings those features to OS X. I am just pointing out that if are going to compare prices you should make sure that the features match.
I made a simple point, without any VAT or what not people in US pay the equivalent of £100 to start with, without VAT or anything else, pure and simple comparison. In UK that same starting price is £39.99 more. Which is why i said that same reason why Vista is higher priced in UK is the same reason why Apple priced OS X more.
Hardware wise i just checked the Mac Pro, it comes with C2Q but hey they stick in a 7300GS as STANDARD? And you say there isnt much you would want to upgrade in Mac OS X?
That is in a way true, because its apples and oranges. The Mac platform is mostly used by professionals while the PC platform is also used by professionals but it has a major addition home users! As they said on CES PC platform is THE gaming platform in world and that means that even Mac Pro, the most powerful PC they offer will not meat the demand of 200 million strong PC users.
The build quality of Mac is totally worthless point to use against a PC because there are so many people making PC's in world that there will be offcourse those made cheaply but then those made with precision. You say you dont know Voodo?
http://www.voodoopc.com/default.aspx
You only believe that MS does nothing for you because from the start you have a biased view of MS which tints your POV about the things they do. Windows aint the only OS that can be used on IBM's PC arch so why arent those dominant as well?
Me and you are trying to compare Win and OSX as if they are the same, the truth of the matter is one is an apple the other an orange. Windows has come to place it is now throu a lot different path then OSX and because of that it will be different. Pricing and Licensing are due to the different ways of development and usage. I bet you this if OS X became the dominant OS from now Apple would employ the same tactics as MS is doing now, knowing Apple they might even go even further.
As you say my POV of MS might be tinted but your view of Apple is unsubstantiated.