Having worked IT support and later systems engineering from '94 through '02, I agree with everything you just said. Even NT 4.0 was pretty rock solid, but 2k and esp. XP are almost impossible to "crash" if properly maintained, no matter the load thrown at them. I can't remember the last time one of my own personal machines has "crashed"--it certainly hasn't happened in the past few years, despite constant use (including a XPsp3 workstation/server left up 24/7).

The various Macintosh OSes were typically more stable than DOS/Win 3.x and 95/98/ME, but once MS moved its flagship OS to one built off NT and not DOS, the tide turned. Having extensively used and worked on literally thousands of Macs and "PC"s of all manufacture, including self-built models, it is my impression that XP (and yes, even Vista now) is in fact a more stable platform than Apple's offering--and yes, for about 1/3 the cost, and supporting hundreds or thousands of times as many programs. Depending on the specific machine or component manufacturer, I often find the hardware build quality and durability vastly superior to Apple's as well. As for AV or spyware, again, you're completely correct. I guess installing a $20 AV program (if even that is required, they're often preloaded nowadays) and grabbing a free version of the ubiquitous Spybot is too much to ask of some people. If so, it's a wonder those people can figure out how to put gasoline in their cars after whatever was in the tank when they drove off the lot is used up, because there is no real difference in the complexity of those two respective tasks.

This writer is a notorious Mac fanboy (it was more pronounced when he was on salon.com, but the trait still rears its ugly head from time to time), so I guess some typically lazy, ill-informed stereotyping is to be expected. I did laugh out loud though when he suggested that having to support different hard drive manufacturers was in any way responsible for any stability issues one way or the other, so props for the comic relief.

Machines are machines. Some of us use them as such, others seem to construct our identities or self-esteem around our ownership of them. Mac fans are generally bigger fettishists than any other group of consumers ever constructed, but I guess when you want to derive your sense of self-worth from a thing, having to settle for a chintzy compute--and not, say, a sleek, roaring Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo pussy magnet--means that perhaps some overcompensation is unavoidable.