Im a former Mac & PC HW tech and Windows Server Admin so I know a thing or two about building a decent machine - it's not the HW that is the problem, it's the Windows OS and bloat filled software that is the issue! rebuilding you PC every 12-18months is just accepted norm and it really shouldn't be - on top of that almost every new WinOS version gobbles up more and more resources for no real gain!
Mac's dont have Registries to get filled up with sh!te and the dont suffer from DLL hell from every app installing their own bits of crap through out the Windows and System/32 folders.
99% of Mac software is 100% self contained and to remove it is as simple as deleting the icon from the apps folder. Extension all live in the Extensions folder so if one plays up it's very easy to troubleshoot. Most Mac software doesnt even have an installer as installing it is as simple as dragging it to the Applications folder - it's all very simple and just works.
Your credentials are impeccable. I am a current PC technician and server administrator, and have been doing so now for almost 20 years. I do not subscribe to your interpretation of the PC world. In a managed environment, rebuilding a workstation every year is absolutely NOT the norm and if I ever said that to any of my business customers they'd fire me on the spot for trying to bilk them of their money. I've found that in almost all cases it's shyt software and drivers, not Windows, which is largely responsible for problems or instances in which the only recovery is to re-load Windows. (Like your example of programs putting stuff in system32 where it doesn't belong or loading up crap in the registry.) In other cases it's corruption caused by shyt hardware.
Windows has a large installation foot print, for certain. The performance, however, does actually get better, even with the relative bloat of the DotNet platform. I've run Windows 7 and Windows 8 on machines formerly running Windows XP and both out-perform XP in most regards. Though Windows 8 ceased working on some of the older P4 machines as of the release of Customer Preview 2 as it requires NX support from the CPU and PAE support from the system itself.
I don't hold a lot of love for Windows, nor am I a Windows fan-boy or Microsoft apologist. I admire the relative ease of OSX and its approach to applications and user environment, for certain. In fact, the absolute easiest old-to-new computer migration I've ever done was on a Mac, moving a customer from an OS8 iMac to an OSX iMac. I had to dismantle the old machine because the release of OS8 was one revision to old to support direct Firewire transfer to the new machine, but once I connected that drive to the new iMac and ran the import wizard (or whatever the heck it is) the user's data and settings came over perfectly. No FAST or WET to muck about with and hope it works. While I was installing Office for Mac updates I decided to give the Bluetooth a drive until it got a little too friendly with my phone.
I admin Linux and Solaris servers, too, though I prefer the latter over the former by a long shot (until Oracle completely phuqs it up, that is.) Every OS has its place and purpose. Solaris (eh, and Linux, I guess) makes a great server and a fairly good desktop. Mac is great for most people who just want stuff to work* and never want to move too far outside of the box, not to mention the Mac walled garden is exceptionally easy for Apple to support as they're practically all the same. (I've considered Mac for my parents, but they love Windows 7 and never have problems so I'll just leave it alone.)
* Except for network printers which don't support PostScript, like Konica and Savin/Ricoh for which PS is an extra module to purchase.
In a small business, however, nothing beats Microsoft out-of-the-box, period. It's an expensive investment but it has everything needed in one integrated package, something you'd have to cobble together in other systems which try to emulate what Microsoft offers. Sure, I could offer Linux or Mac to my customers with a bunch of stuff crunched together to work, but that will not settle the issue of compatibility with Windows-based applications for which alternate OS versions do not exist. Not to mention when presented with the fact that only a couple of people around here would be able to support it if I died or get fired, that's just not a suitable option.
I'm retiring some Small Business Server 2003 servers this year which have been operational for six to eight years. (For the record: not my choice as I do like to replace server hardware when warranties run out.) They're still running just as good as the day I installed them.
I'd like to run in large enterprise environments where I can have Windows and Solaris machines (or AIX, HP-UX, or whatever) running in concert and harmony, but that's not the realm I work right now. And once I reach my higher aspirations none of that will matter, anyway.
It's late, I'm still writing a final paper, and have finals to review for the week, so this rambling thread hijack isn't a beneficial venture for me.
