Nah. We just like a computer with a superior design and operating system. Let's face it. OS X has been blowing away the Windows OS for how long? As for paying for music and software, what's wrong with that? I'd rather know I'm not stealing than own a crap load of pirated stuff. I'm glad we pay for our music, because that's why we have fresh MP3s and not songs from Limewire. Limewire songs have been shared how many times? A lot! As for seeing myself superior to PC users, that's not true either. Your computer choice doesn't determine whether you're going to heaven or hell. This study overreacts in many ways. However, I do agree that Mac users don't pirate like PC users. We actually pay for our music, movies and software. As a Mac user, I've even purchased programs I may not use just for the sake of applauding the programmer. One recent example was Tangerine by Panic Software. If you think that's bad, I feel for you. Programmers work hard, and they deserve our thanks. Major applications aren't just written in a single day. Those of us who have expertise in the computing field (i.e. I was tech support for an ISP) tend to appreciate the creative endeavors of others. When considering the bulk of the PC community, many of those folks don't really even care what it takes to make a terrific contribution to the software community and the public at large. Mac users are creators--not PC gamers. I've never met a Mac user who hasn't contributed something to the web-based communities in some form or fashion. They either have a blog, web site, podcast or they program. Need I even go into the movie and music industries with concerns for the Mac user? I think not. It's true. We're the round pegs in the square holes, and we think outside the box. I'm a Mac, and I'm proud!

My parents have a mac. I use it occasionally, and why? Because of the one advantage it truly has over a PC: it turns on and off, fast. That is because Jobs doesn't want you getting down and dirty in his barely recognizable BIOS, so you never figure out how the mac "works." But when it's on, you have to get to whatever it is you're doing to have a net gain, because macs don't really do much, save for a few functions that could be easily done on a PC that costs around 1/4th the price of said mac. Because more people have PC's, more third party software is available for PC's. I know, that's changing. People are flocking to macs like oblivious sheep to the slaughter. Just remember, folks, WHY PC's have more viruses: more people use PC's, and hackers see it better to make a virus that targets more people. And with more and more people using macs... do the math. I know someone who makes viruses for macs, for demonstration purposes. To prove that it can be done. Either way, it's easy to mistake the aforementioned third-party software for lagging that is caused by the operating system itself. Get rid of the third party software on a PC, and you have a machine that can do what a mac does, faster. Add a few programs, and you can do more than you can do with a mac, at the same speed. And so on... macs just don't have said compatible software to cause the lag.
And by the way, macs can crash. They just make it look pretty so you don't think it's a crash. Just like every other part of a mac, the looks are enhanced to hide the fact that your computer sucks.

And... the rest of my post? Are you going to go into detail about that? It seems you just made an argument for Macs not having a BIOS (which, by the way, I said "barely recognizable," and by that I mean "restructured, different-looking (assuming you ever see it), and put under a different name while doing pretty much the same thing), mentioned that it's UNIX, and went on a rant that apparently hints at an upcoming flame war (by the way, please calm down). You did not address my mentioning of price, of the reason Macs seem so immune from viruses, of the lack of third-party software. Speaking of which, I always hear people talk about how, even if they get a mac, they'll still be able to use windows. Come now. Why, then, are they paying extra thousands for a computer that is that expensive simply because it is the only platform that can legally run Mac OS? So they can run Windows? So they can run Micro$oft products ported to Mac OS X that could be run just as easily on Windows?

Please, do tell why you say Macs are better than PC's. And, make sure that when you do so, you do not limit your evidence to your argument itself, because that seems to be what you're doing. You have not addressed anything else but the BIOS.

I have taken a class on computers when I, too, thought Macs had no BIOS. The teacher was quick to correct me. I then asked about the quick loading of the OS. He said that it was loaded into PRAM, which I can actually say I'm quite impressed with.

Sorry for not making this clearer before, or maybe even unknowingly contradicting this next statement, but I think of the term PC as meaning IBM-compatible hardware based computers, not simply "a computer with Windows on it." I personally make the same distinction between a Mac and a computer running Mac OS, which, due to legal restrictions, there isn't much of a difference.

It's nice to see that you have calmed down and are typing in what can be perceived as a more "constructive criticism" way than how you were typing before.

I'm afraid that, while I see your point and where you are coming from regarding your comment on open source code, I'm afraid I was referring to something else entirely. I was referring to the "shrink wrap license" that comes with Mac OSX that, according to Jorge Espinoza, a Miami based lawyer specialized in intellectual property law, "specifically requires that the software be installed only on Apple branded computers."
This has twice become the subject of lawsuits Apple has made against Psystar, a company that has been selling "mac clones."

The whole BIOS thing, as much as I personally hate to make excuses, is only the information I am told by my teacher in classes regarding Operating Systems and Computer Hardware (who uses a group of standardized tests, known as A+, in both classes, and which I have passed twice, meaning I now can expect my certificate sometime soon, so I do have some computer certification), who said that "All computers have a BIOS chip. Can't work without one." Now, in his defense, his biggest experience with macs is way back before OSX came out, and his use of them declined after realizing the lack of backwards compatibility in OSX.

My response to your comment regarding administrative passwords perhaps applies to me more than to other people, but you are right, to a point. I do encounter the need for a password when installing something on non-admin accounts. But on admin accounts, I never see a password request.

I am not entirely a supporter of Window$, as I said. You know, all those big computer companies out there, with evil, greedy and corrupt CEO's didn't start that way. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and a whole lot of other people used to be great, respectable, honest people. Apple was great, even. Apple was the pioneer of the Personal Computer. They did great things. But now, they all have tasted the corrupting power of success, and they want more. To put it in terms of a certain video from the 90's (the name of which I cannot recall), they went from bards to bankers. They no longer work for fun, or to advance the world into the future of computing. If they did, Apple would still be on top, and I'd be using a mac (running at speeds which, in reality, we would expect ten years from now) right now. Instead, they started doing the minimum requirement for getting customers away from the competition. And if, say, the makers of all those free OS's out there started charging money, they'd eventually be lost to greed, too.

I only use a Window$ PC because it's what my parents gave me, it is compatible with stuff (namely, games), and I know how to use it. I have been trying to figure out how to navigate the hard drive of my other computer (a rather old PC with Ubuntu on it), and so far I have been unsuccessful.