The bright side of owning a Mac

remember trying to find a decent ADB joystick??

Yeahbut, look at all the BMW models that have full Zune connectivity. And how about that VeeDub Zune edition, too!

While Apple has done extremely well sewing up the personal audio space, the days of sitting in the back seat are hardly over for Mac users.

Google Chrome? uTorrent? Digsby? Netflix? These are great products I love to use on my PC but I've had to wait and wait to use them on my Mac. Let's not even talk about games. I would love to throw away the PC under my desk and use my Mac exclusively, but we haven't quite reached the parity required for that to truly happen. Virtualization? Sure, I sometimes use that to fire up a real copy of Excel on my Mac. But I'm not going to do that for everything, especially programs I want to perform well.

put a webcam in it and a mic in it - for a discrete security system. you could use it for skype too. How about an ipod or a plain vanilla usb connection - is this asking too much from 'mac-friendy' logitec????

I absolutely remember those dark days. There was a point when both HP and Canon gave up on selling consumer inkjet printers for the Mac. And there were no Apple inkjets either, Apple had discontinued them to focus on its core business. So if you needed a new inkjet for home use, it was either an Epson Stylus 740 or nothing. I know this because I bought one. There was literally no other choice!

And as far as keyboards and mice, good luck finding anything Mac-compatible at retail. It really is a different world today (crappy Logitech drivers notwithstanding.)

Does anyone else remember the shock from Intuit's announcement that Quicken would no longer be available for the Mac? It was even a story on CNN.

Regarding webcams, only the UVC (USB Video Class) types are handled out of the box by a Mac, otherwise you'll have to look for drivers (generally 3rd party). Fortunately it seems most new webcams follow this standard nowadays.

About the Squeezebox, they'd be very happy to implement something like AirTunes (or whatever the name of the protocol to send music to Airport Express stations is) which would be the obvious solution for such a device, but from reading their forums Apple doesn't license this technology.

Macs still got a long way to go....there still alot programs that don't work well on Macs which Windows has had for a long time! I even have quite a few hardware that don't have Mac software..

In 1994 with full apple lust i got my first corporate job. I walked into people working in the dark ages. I pressured the IT staff to buy the only MAC in the Corporation (a forms business in 5 states). They were in the process of "upgrading" their technology. I was struck with tons of opposition about my purchase requests. I watched the IT Head spend weeks getting the PC's to work with the simple network set-up. After getting my MAC and connecting the appropriate cables (a whole 15 minutes of work even back then) I cheerfully called him to let him know that i was printing on the fancy HP printer that still wasnt working properly for everyone else. I am used to being spoiled by APPLE!

I have to agree with a previous poster who pointed out that Logitech's software for Mac sucks, and their products are often compatible only because they are USB and adhere to some basics of the product category (keyboards, mice, etc.). One place where they really fall down is with their webcams. Few models work on a Mac and they only bother to make them work with the included software, not iChat or Photo Booth.
That being said, my fave old mouse is a plain-jane 3 button scroll wheel mouse from Logitech that I use without the stupid Logitech Control Center, since it does nothing useful.
Since I've been an Apple user since the mid 80's (started with an Apple //e), I was shocked to go into my local Office Depot and find Mac software in with the Windows software! It used to be that you could only find Mac software at the computer dealer who sold you your Mac.

Of course one of the main downsides is still the gaming, and software in general, situation.

Not only in terms of availability of titles, but also retail options. There are only so many places that sell Mac software to the point where there is no real downward pressure on Mac software prices. Even after a title has been out for a while the retail price rarely, if ever, goes down over the life of the product. One example Civilization 4 for Windows can pretty easily be obtained for about $20-30, but the Mac version is still $45-55, despite the game having been out for years.