OS X vs. Windows XP. Now there’s a debate that normally spirals quickly out of control.
“You get more viruses.”
“You don’t have any games.”
“You’re harder to use.”
“You cost more.”
“Your feet smell.”
“Your mother wears combat boots.”
Fortunately, this site doesn’t go that way, and is surprisingly fair and balanced. They did a good job of not going off the deep end on either platform, pro or con. The numbers look pretty reasonably assigned and the closeness bears out what most non-fanboys would say – that OS X is currently considered slightly better but still needs continuous improvement to stay ahead (especially with Vista just around the corner), and in some ways Windows XP is on top (I’ll take Windows Explorer over OS X’s Finder, and OS X’s method of only having one corner to resize a window aggrivates me).
There are a few possible mistakes (does Windows Movie Maker really ship with Windows XP? I didn’t think so, at least not the most up-to-date version, and I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to buy a Mac without iMovie.) and not having a section on virus’ and malware is disappointing (or maybe that’s because I just spent 20 very frustrating hours trying to clean up the family PC after the kids went “exploring” though some websites they shouldn’t have) but for the most part I’m impressed.
Since each category may be more important to one person than to another, the overall number may be somewhat meaningless. You might weight something heavier than I would; each of our needs are different. But the numbers and explanation of each category are good research material.
[edit: Windows Movie Maker v2.1 is included with Service Pack 2.]