I am a former Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (the ATP of the computer world). I used to rip Apple up and down and my argument was because it simply sucked compared to Windows. And it did.
Then, Apple was in bankruptcy, on the verge of being a hobby, and they called back Steve Jobs. He came in and developed the iPod. I that it was cool, but could already play music on my Ipaq PocketPC. I had to download the music, put it on an SDCard, load it into the phone/device, move the folders around so the device could read it, reload the program so that it would recognize the new music, and manually switch each song. I thought it worked fine.
Then, Steve Jobs bet the farm because, he too, knew their OS sucked. He had them rewrite the OS from the ground up. Threw it all out and started over from scratch. He did the same with their hardware (which wasn't really bad to begin with, but the new OS would run on universally distributed hardware, not just proprietary hardware). I still believed it sucked because I wouldn't even take a look at it.... it was Apple.
Then, Steve Jobs unveils this shiny new iPhone. It was an Apple phone. Had to suck because it was Apple. I wouldn't even take a look because I was really happy with my Motorola Q "smartphone" which ran Windows embedded. It was slick. I had to reboot it every day to keep it from corrupting, but hey, it synced my contacts, did my email, and was much better than a Blackberry that it was developed to compete with. The iPhone? It was a kids toy.
Then my buddy got one. I went 6 months making fun of him for his toy. Until he saw me reboot my phone. He laughed at me. Said, "Why are you rebooting your phone?", my answer, "I do it every day!" He proceeds to tell me that he went 6 months without ever rebooting his phone. Not only did I reboot it every day, but for optimal performance I would wipe and reload the thing once a month. He throws his phone at me and says, "Play with it!" I first refused... I wouldn't entertain the dark side. But I did... I was so ****ed at my phone at that moment that I did. I liked it. I still was skeptical that he didn't have to reboot his phone daily, but I liked it.
Then, the iPhone 3g came out (the second one). I was up for a new phone and got it. I fell in instant love. It just worked. Simple. No problems. No reboots. No reloads. No programming. Nothing. IT. JUST. WORKED.
About a year later, after becoming an iPhone aficionado, my laptop started giving me lots of trouble. It was time. Do I dare look at an Apple? I hate them. They're crapple. I called my buddy, who incidentally bought his first Apple computer about a year prior, and of course, he loved it. Since he was right with the phone, I trusted him on the computer. I had to take a leap on this one, but I did it. I bought my first MacBook Pro. I loaded it. It just worked. No reboots, no blue screens, no screwing around with it, nothing. It drove me crazy for the first 2 weeks picking up how it works and getting used to it. But, just like the phone, it just worked. In fact, my plan was new computers every 2 years. That MacBook Pro lasted 4 for me, and my daughter still uses it a year and a half later. It is still working.
I am on my second MacBook Pro and love it, my wife switched 2 years ago to a MacBookPro and loves it, we are on our 4th set of iPhones, and both use iPads.
Now, I can clearly say that Windows sucks compared to a Mac. Steve Jobs did it right, that is, he looked at why Microsoft was successful (simplicity and ease of use), looked at why they failed (buggy, prone to crashes, viruses, etc) and made a superb product. If Microsoft wants to stay viable in the future, they need to do what Jobs did: Scrap the Windows NT kernel and replace it. NT was written in the 1980's. It was better than the old DOS kernel (that ran 95, 98, & ME) which they did scrap, but it is not as good as the Unix-based Kernel that nearly every web server, mainframe, Android, Apple, and many other devices use.
So, to make it Apple simple: Windows sucks. Apple is good. You made a good choice and congratulations on your purchase!
?
