Admitting "Iive never been the biggest Apple booster," PC Magazineis Jim Louderback said in a column published Thursday that he likes the 17-inch Intel iMac he recently bought and that "some of Appleis recent moves leave me even more impressed." He began by citing the new Mac Pro, whose industrial design he describes as "breathtaking," thanks to the ease with which users can swap out SATA hard drives and add RAM.

"The new version of OS X is also impressive," he added. "After a recent tour, I found myself constantly asking, iWhen will Vista do that?i" While Mr. Louderback still isnit "sold on OS X as an alternative to Vista," he spoke with Michael Dell and an anonymous PC OEM executive who both said "theyid be more than happy to sell PCs running OS X."

The columnist noted: "The other went even further, claiming heid chuck Windows out of the building in a New York minute, and deliver a 100% OS X lineup. If only Apple would let him."

He also wrote: "I wonder whether Apple realizes how much Windows angst is out in the market. Forget the failed Power Computing experiment from the mid-nineties. Now is the time for Apple to do OS licensing right. And they should go further than just licensing the OS to PC vendors. Why not let the alpha geeks build their own OS X machines too?"

Mr. Louderback concluded: "Microsoft is vulnerable, the Windows empire has cracks, and the products coming from Infinity [sic] Loop have broad appeal."