Good old Steve Jobs. I run OSX on my main development machine, and while I prefer it to XP personally, I think referring to Windows as "hell" is probably a bit of an overstatement. Of course, I guess it's really just marketing - so what can we expect?

Well, sure, it's an overstatement and it's marketing (although anyone who's had to wipe their hard drive clean and start over due to viruses and spyware might not think it's too over the top), but you gotta love a guy who loves his products that much. I also think that he and Gates probably enjoy this act. Neither of them have anything to prove at this point, so why not have fun with it?

Definitely. I watched the excerpts from the interview and they both seemed to present themselves in a pleasant light-hearted fashion. Jobs really wins hands down in the enthusiasm & personality department though.

You have to wonder what they might have accomplished if they'd been partners.

Does anyone think that the IPod would have been nearly as popular if it could only be used with a Mac? Can you say BetaMax or Blue-Ray?

Steve knew where his gravy was and while he does have a good (and funny) point, 2 a true Mac-head, isn't writing a Mac app. for Windows kinda like selling your soul?

BTW - Even though all of those around me have done it, I still can't bring myself to buy an IPod.

Does anyone think that the IPod would have been nearly as popular if it could only be used with a Mac?

Well, duh. That's like saying that cars wouldn't be nearly as popular if there weren't any streets. Not sure what point you're making.

Can you say BetaMax or Blue-Ray?

Kind of early to be writing off Blu-Ray, isn't it? Oh, that's right. Microsoft is one of the sponsors of HD-DVD. But it's hard to ignore the fact that Blu-Ray has more than 100 manufacturers supporting it, vs. HD DVD's ten. Anyway, they're both a pain in the rear for consumers, and the best we can hope for is players that will handle both.

a true Mac-head, isn't writing a Mac app. for Windows kinda like selling your soul?

Heavens, no! Would you want to prevent carrying the Gospel into North Korea just because it's officially atheistic? ;-)

Even though all of those around me have done it, I still can't bring myself to buy an IPod.

You say that like it qualifies you for sainthood or something. ;-)

It's just a music player. If you don't want or need one, fine. If you haven't bought one because you don't like Apple or Steve Jobs, that's fine, too.

Along those lines, I found it interesting that the iPod reached the 100 million mark in unit sales faster than just about any other consumer electronic device in history. It took only 5.5 years (vs 9.5 years for Playstations, 15 years for digital cameras, 22 years for personal computers, and 28 years for color TVs; I didn't see a stat for cell phones, which would seem to be the most likely challenger -- or electronic calculators).