Forget Vista and Zune flaws, Apple products impose 'tax'

When your OS market share is falling to a superior product (because your fallible copycat product--Vista--doesn't work), it's time to pull out the big guns and slam the competition. Here's the scoop: Do Macs cost more than PCs? Yes. Are they worth the price difference? YES, YES, YES. I just retired a G4 after 8 years of faithful service. How many PC users can say that?

By the time a PC user buys add-ons, security software, upgrades, downgrades to XP, and wastes hours troubleshooting the most banal OS issues that Mac users never confront, I assert that they've SPENT MORE than a Mac user! Clearly, the Mac is the better deal, in the long run, and it's just a better product. Otherwise, why would Microsoft keep copying--albeit poorly--EVERYTHING Apple does?

Microsoft again pitted Mac prices against similarly-configured Windows PCs from the likes of Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

Not surprisingly, Microsoft's comparisons put Apple's hardware at a disadvantage, with the "tax" ranging from 16 per cent, or $100, for the entry-level Mac mini to 25 per cent, or $300, for the lowest-priced iMac desktop.

Microsoft also played the recession card as it knocked Apple's prices. "We're in the midst of difficult economic times - declining retail sales and lower consumer confidence," a Microsoft spokeswoman said. "People are...demanding more substance with their style in a computer. They simply do not have the luxury of spending more for less.”

"Windows PCs are offering the best value on the market," she argued, "while Apple continues to impose high price premiums on their Mac designs, offering only modest discounts of 5 to 10 per cent."

[From Microsoft bangs 'Apple tax' drum once again as Apple announce new products - Mac - Macworld UK]

Maybe this is Microsuck's attempt to make you forget about their crappy OSX copy called Vista (since the Mojave campaign isn't working), or maybe they're trying to make you forget that the Zune recently stopped working because of bad programming.

Here’s the deal. Microsoft botched the code in the firmware for its Zune30GB handheld players. Like a ticking time bomb, the problem started exploding for Zune owners once 2008 started transitioning into 2009. Users worldwide quickly found that their Zunes were completely locked out. Locked out as in "completely inoperable," that is: Zunes began resetting without warning or completely turning off. When a user flipped the power back on, the Zune operating system would begin to load and freeze on the actual loading screen. And no amount of begging, pleading, or cursing could fix the issue for a hapless user.Microsoft was quick on the "solution," which I’ve paraphrased thusly: Wait it out.

[From ZuneGate ’08: What really happened | Macworld]