I've used ManIntosh since, well, before hard drives were popular. I remember begging dad to get the LATEST THING... Color. Theyve come a long way, but the one thing that disappoints me about Apple is compatibility. Apple's hardware is outstanding, the system is very robust, the graphics are amazing... But there is simply a lack of choices in software. The average user isnt as concerned with the raw power of the processor, but how many bells and whistles they can install, hence the popularity of Windows XP. Also, the average user these days couldnt tell you the differece between Unix and Eunuchs. I myself im admittedly no expert, and I plan to take that course in a few weeks at the loacl college.
One thing that used to be a huge topic, at least in my household, was the nebulous rumor of a MacIntosh system, code named "Rhapsody" that was to feature "open architecture," so it would run "anything." A few years after this rumor was started, or at least it was mentioned by my father, the "PC compatibilty cards" were featured in the new Powermacs, and after reading about them, i was woefully disappointed. Of course, not being much of a power user, the next household fad was "softwindows." Immediatly, with allowance in hand, I trudge to the mall to stock up on a pile of PC games. And lo and behold, when I started the game, it was slllooooooooowww.
No fault of MacIntosh. I think it was before it's time. And had MacIntosh never come about, we might still be doing everything via command line!