J ohn C. Dvorak, curmudgeon extraordinaire, has written a (fairly) sane and (mostly) cogent look at some of the differences between the Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. Mr. Dvorak looks at such issues as total cost of ownership, viruses and security, applications, ease of use, compatibility, and stability, and says that none of those issues seem to matter. Mr. Dvorakis conclusion is that the main thing keeping many people on the Windows side of things is simply that there are more games for Windows than any other platform. That sets the tone of his piece, titled "Itis the games, stupid!" From Mr. Dvorakis column:
People talk about changing platforms. They promote Mac and Linux as vaguely better than Windows because these operating systems crash less, because theyire cheaper, or because Microsoft isnit involved. Meanwhile, Windows users complain bitterly about everything. But few actually switch. Why is this? Letis look at the reasons to switch and try to determine exactly why Windows has such a viselike grip on its user base. If I am correct in my assessment, then everyone has been barking up the wrong tree for decades.
[...]
Gaming. I pulled this out of the general-applications category because this is the only category where Windows rocks. In fact, when I analyze the list carefully, only games stand above the rest— giving Windows a genuine edge.
[...]
All the wheel spinning about the superiority of this platform or that platform just boils down to the fun side of computing: games. No other single factor is so skewed. Everything else is a wash.
Thereis more in the full column, which we recommend as an interesting read.