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Crash

Just so we can all set the record straight, what is defined as a crash? A BSoD, a virus, hardware frying, or a simple problem solved by a restart? (you guys can expand on this, these are the few things I can think of off the top of my head...) I, for one, see a crash as something that makes your computer totally unusable without major repair. To me, a program freezing up ONCE is not a crash, as a restart will solve the problem, as with most problems in Windows.

As for Malware, it'd be interesting to see what ppl have on their computers before they get it. I have several friends that get spyware simply because they don't run a firewall, antivirus, and antispyware programs. They complain that their computers are slow, so I tell them to run Spybot and AdAware, which averages ~120 problems. After its clean, I have them install AVG Free, Spybot, AdAware, and ZoneAlarm all freeware... and they have no more problems. On my laptop, task manager reports that my antimalware programs eat up a whopping total of 8.76 MB of RAM (Spybot S&D Teatimer, 6,600 KB, WinPatrol, 960 KB, Windows Defender, 948 KB, and AVG Free 264 KB) so thus, I really can't see the point of saying that security programs make a huge diffenrence in performance. (Well, unless you're using Norton Internet Security, or equivalent, which are bloated and use way too much...)

"I read through this and found a lot of people seem to go to the Church of Bill Gates."

I don't know where you've been all your life, but there are probably a higher concentration of Fanboys on the Apple side of computing.

"Now VISTA has been BANNED from Government computers due to the problems. And I hear you PRAISING Windows?"

Its funny how people twist this little fact and add words that were never said. If you actually read the article you would have found that the DOT banned Vista, Office 2007, and IE7 because there is no reason to upgrade.(*1) Windows XP has proven to be an excellent OS that is very stable if treated properly. The difference between XP and Vista is pretty noticeable, but not enough to warrant rushing out and upgrading, between DOT and FAA, 60 THOUSAND computers the day after these new products come out. (*2) The situation would be exactly the same if the DOT had Macs because they'd ban Leopard just as easily until they're sure it'll all work. Theres also software that isn't for sure compatible yet with Vista, so they'd have to keep XP even if they wanted to go to Vista (*3) Now you can go and bash MS for incompatiblity all you want, but I'm pretty sure that Vista had a VERY long development run, and I'm VERY sure that if these companies really wanted to, their programs would be Vista compatible. If MS waited for everything to work, Vista would have been delayed many years. I would strongly recommend that next time you get your facts straight from the source, and not your local Apple fan club.

"Just adapt to the single button mouse."

This makes me laugh alot. If you were to sell someone who ran windows a button with one mouse, half the OS would be useless. How much easier would it be to have another button instead of using the keyboard in sync with the mouse. Since humans have more than one finger, the ergonomics of multi button mice make much more sense. Another thing thats ridiculus is how Macs eject CD's. You could simply push a button on the drive to open it, or push a button on your keyboard or put the cd in the trash bin. Well, what happens if OSX decides it doesn't want to eject the cd, or even better, what happens if your keyboard stops working? Microsoft obviously has the upside here.

"A lot of companies have switched to steer clean from virus problems."

I would highly doubt that, unless you put forth evidence that this actually happens. It just makes no business sense to have something that only 5% of your customers use, and be incompatible with the OS that the VAST majority of businesses currently use.

(*1) In a memo to his staff, the DOT's CIO Daniel Mintz says he has placed "an indefinite moratorium" on the upgrades as "there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new Microsoft software products. Furthermore, there appears to be specific reasons not to upgrade."

(*2) The DOT's ban on Vista, Internet Explorer 7, and Office 2007 applies to 15,000 computer users at DOT proper who are currently running the Windows XP Professional operating system. The memo indicates that a similar ban is in effect at the Federal Aviation Administration, which has 45,000 desktop users.

(*3) Compatibility with existing applications appears to be the Transportation Department's major concern. According to a separate memo, a number of key software applications and utilities in use in various branches of the department aren't Vista compatible. Among them are Aspen 2.8.1, ISS 2.11, ProVu 3.1.1, and Capri 6.5, according to a memo issued by staffers at the DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197700789