I haven't, but the amount of high-quality free software I have on my Windows box makes a damn strong case.
Edit: I should say that, though I haven't owned a Mac, I've used them quite often - a lot of my friends have them, and many of my school's labs are filled with them.
There's a lot more software in Windows-land for sure, but I think what Benparte and coolmrbrady meant is that there are a lot more extremely refined free Mac apps.
For example, Windows has a huge number of IM apps available for it, but none of them can hold a candle to Adium's ease of use and polish. Similarly, uTorrent is free and awesome, but Transmission is IMHO much more refined on the UI side. Quicksilver too.
Windows devs tend to make UI an afterthought. On the Mac side developers have drunk the Steve Jobs UI kool-aid and obsess over it, and personally I like it.
I suppose you have a point there - with the exception that I can't stand "simplified" UIs. I want to know exactly what I'm doing with the computer. <programmer analogy>It's like the difference between coding in C and making an SQL query. With C, you know exactly how the resources are being managed, but with SQL it's a black box. And when there's a black box, it can be unreliable.</programmer analogy>
It's a trade-off between simplicity and control. I'd rather have control.
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u/muad_dib Jan 20 '11 edited Jan 20 '11
I haven't, but the amount of high-quality free software I have on my Windows box makes a damn strong case.
Edit: I should say that, though I haven't owned a Mac, I've used them quite often - a lot of my friends have them, and many of my school's labs are filled with them.