1. The Xbox product line forces me to hate microsoft less. Hell, if the got out of the OS/Officeware space, I might even be forced to like them.

Posted at 8:09PM on Apr 7th 2006 by AoE 0 stars

2. I too am a longtime machead and have no problems seperating what I know and feel about the MS Windows side of the world from an xbox. I know other macheads -- I'm hesitant to call them hardcore, but whatever, yeah they can't or aren't willing to draw the line for the xbox.

Posted at 12:29AM on Apr 8th 2006 by refinedsugar 7 stars

3. I used to be all over BSD and Linux, but even the most basic windows managers have become bloated to the point where some of them chug my machine more than XP does. I also got sick of doing everything the manual way; setting up PPP manually is about as much fun as pulling teeth.

I detest the Mac OS -- I don't see what everyone else sees in it, obviously -- so I've become rather fond of XP. It's easy to use, it does everything I want it to do, and while it's hardly crash-proof, it's stable enough that I never have any issues with it. I also tend to use MS applications for most things, simply because of the RAM usage and stability, along with the more appealing interfaces. The only apps I don't use are the new Messenger (50 megs of RAM? Get lost!), Windows Media Player (and only because I've got an iPod and Apple demand I use their software), and Internet Explorer (Even with IE7, Firefox is still lightyears ahead).

So I'm not really one of these people that hates Windows or Microsoft at all. So when I see Microsoft on the Xbox, it's a good thing, not a bad thing. :)

Posted at 1:07AM on Apr 8th 2006 by Donutta 0 stars

4. I don't understand the hate for Microsoft at all... they may have been a little shady in the past(I liked that kind of destroy all that appose us mentality though), but you can see they are making many changes to be more of a friendly company and I to think the Mac's OS isn't anything special...

Posted at 4:33AM on Apr 8th 2006 by Daniel Lawson 0 stars

5. When i see the Microsoft logo on something, i trust it. I trust i will get good customer service and if it does break they will send me a new one (keyboards) or fix it(360).

Posted at 8:29AM on Apr 8th 2006 by oh snap 0 stars

6. I tend to distinguish the console from the company. For instance I dont really associate Playstatin with the Sony I know.

Posted at 12:00AM on Apr 10th 2006 by S. A. 0 stars

7. I associate Xbox with Microsoft in a bad way simply because it took their service department four months to send me a box with which to send my 360 to them to be replaced. Bastards...

Posted at 1:02AM on Apr 10th 2006 by Duncan Koss 0 stars

8. I think Sony and Playstation is a much worse association. Sony makes good televisions and camera equipment...that's it. Everything else that comes out of them is crap. I'll admit, the PSX was a champ, but the PS2 was an error-prone hokey black box. I've been playing my PS2 lately, and it is so disappointing after playing the other consoles for some time.

I wasn't a huge fan of Microsoft for all pre-Windows XP versions. XP runs well and is easy to use. I've have to do next to nothing to keep it running on my home machine. As far as other users, the only reasons they seem to have problems is because of Spyware, Malware, Viruses, and Worms. Always user-error. As far as "security" issues, since Windows is used by %90+, you're going to hear more about Windows issues than you are going to hear about Mac OSX and Linux issues (there ARE security issues with those).

Linux and Mac OSX are great, but they are not for everyone. If Microsoft was soooo horrible, then people would stop using Windows. MSOffice isn't even an excuse anymore, OpenOffice works fine.

Anyway, if you pay attention to MS employees, and the projects they blog about, it is obvious that Microsoft is moving in the right direction. Many quality products are in their future.

Posted at 11:48AM on Apr 10th 2006 by SuicideNinja 1 star

9. I too don't understand the attraction to MacOS, I don't hate micrsoft. It's neither good or bad for the Xbox. I think if anything, it means that the Box has alot of possible Money behind it, and will not bow out of the gameing space for a while. On the other hand... I don't see why ANYONE would want Apple as a dominant force in the computer industry.

For as bad as MS may be in the OS space, they are nowhere near as bad as Apple. Their computers are overpriced, and closed boxes. Consider how much worse they'd be if they had no compitition. The iMac minis would cost over $1000. and if you didn't like those prices... well, whatever.. they'd be the only game in town.

Posted at 2:19PM on Apr 10th 2006 by duscrom 0 stars

10. No competition duscrom? You mean sort of like Microsoft? ;)

Let's say I disagree with the Apple comments. They *don't* have any competition. Apple *is* the only company that makes Macs, and the minis are only $600, and they still sell like crazy. Why? Because they're attractive, well designed systems that work better than Windows.

SuiciceNinja:
I agree, to an amount, with the popular claim that Mac OS doesn't have problems due to its popularity relative to Windows. The "larger target" idea.

Then again, MacOS has been cleared for use by the NSA, has never had a real virus in the wild, has no worms, trojans, spyware, malware. Part of this is because it's a smaller base, sure.

But what about simple security measures like requiring a password to change the the system? The reality is that Mac OS is a better OS in many ways. Some people can't use it because of unfortunate limitations (websites that only work in IE, one app that needs Windows) but many are switching over, notably the alpha geeks. Want a *nix core OS, with a command line that works, boxes that work, and nice looking to boot? (don't say Vista!)

I did PC tech support for years in college and I want all that time back! On the other hand, fixing Windows is a full blown cottage industry!

Posted at 9:08AM on Apr 11th 2006 by C. Grant 0 stars