Ok, I'm in that camp. I have to say though, I haven't used Windows in about 3 years. If I had to, it would be XP w/SP1. Anything past SP1 is overly intrusive. I've been using Linux Ubuntu and similar distros. Ubuntu isn't perfect, but I'd say almost, except for a couple of things. Sure, there's the whole drivers issue, but we all know who is to blame for this (Windows and contracts etc). Thankfully, the tide is turning though. AMD and ATI are going full on Linux support, which is great.
My wife needed a new computer (laptop) because her 8 year ol Compac was dying. We had also just received a 5 year old Dell Laptop from a friend for free and I installed Linux Mint on it. which runs just fine, actually. But I figured that my wife should use something which she'd be able to say was hers, and not have any problems with when wanting to go wireless outside etc.. And I also had some personal ideas about wanting to work more with photography, as well as music programs.
Have a friend who worked for Apple, and was always trying to convince me that I'd love a Mac yada yada... The wife and I were in an Apple store in Tampa one day (on vacation) and she says.. I really like that one, we're using them at work now. The keyboard is very comfortable. So I was like, Ok... let's get one if you want, why not.
Making the story shorter.. She would have been just as well off using Linux for what she's doing. She could have used Open Office for her work stuff. As for myself, I found that all the proprietary ways in which Apple products/software are meant to be, is very annoying. I loathe iTunes. iPhoto is a silly toy, but is fine I guess if you're not using it for anything serious. These programs in and of themselves, are programmed quite illogically and have taken up too much of my time in trying to get them to do what I want them to, rather than me doing what they want me to.
I've also found, as a "switcher" that there's a lot more to having things "just work" then people say. Sure, if you're willing to let go of doing things the way you want to, and just let every bit of database mess, run your life, then don't worry about it, you'll be fine. All you have to do basically, is not care about what is happening behind the scenes. Never mind though, that precious hard drive space is likely being wasted because of how file management is handled. There's a lot more to it than this, but it would take far too much of a rant to go through it all.
I personally find OS X to be fairly less (I'd say a lot, but don't want to argue) efficient than Windows when it comes to certain things, and a LOT less efficient than Linux in the same regard. The thing I have yet to really get into yet though, which might make me change my tune a bit, is the dedicated programs such as Aperture 2, Logic and Garage Band. I really want to start making music, editing photos and start putting photo galleries together in conjunction with the mobile.me account I bought into.
I saw an Apple tech (at the apple store) messing about with Aperture 2, and making a web page using the .Mac stuff, and was pretty impressed with the features. So while I'm not overly impressed with the every day stuff one would do on a PC, on a Mac, I'd like to think that there is a lot I have yet to learn, which will make me appreciate the other side of the coin.
Doug
Edit: Pet Peeve: Not having cut/paste on a computer, is about the most single handed idiotic thing...ever. And no.. holding down cmd while dragging and dropping is NOT the same. Yes, the end result is the same, but it's all in how you get there. That's what efficiency is all about.
