Interesting.

The short story is gigo. There's a lot of marginal software out there, and the majority of it is probably in the Windows realm. At the same time, surely you realize that there is also - what?, 5x or more - the number of software titles for the WIntel boxes.

The whole trick is getting the right tool for the job. I try to do a lot of research (now) before I commit myself to anything, hardware or software, because there is a learning curve involved in getting to the point of competence with the package where you can begin to do real work with it.

But I would definitely agree with your general point that the user interface of some software, and the logic (or lack thereof) behind it, is sometimes perplexing, if not bewildering.

Designing user-friendly software and writing competent technical documentation to accompany it are tasks as much art as they are science, but here I must resist the temptation to digress beyond saying that our educational system does not seem to produce large numbers of people who are comfortable in both of these worlds, and have some competency in earch of them.

I'm talking about Art and Science (or Technology).

Our culture produces an abundance of specialists and technicians and not too many men for all seasons - the kind of people who who design user-friendly software, and who are good technical writers.

In any event, getting the right software is essential. You argue that Macs are more user-friendly and they probably are, but for an old-time Windows guy, driver issues are trivial and no more cause for concern than the fact that my tires need air.

Still, I'd like to have a Mac in my stable, and the next good account I land, I'll probably get a modest system just to have the flexibility.

I would consider Linux, only if I could get all my legacy aps and h/w to run - there's no way I could afford, or want, to replace my critical tools.

2Ghz Wintel boxes for well under $1000 these days, and a deluge of software to run on them - the good, the bad, the ugly.

caveat emptor

sp