people don't demand things be sold at a given store...because we are free to shop at other stores that have it. The real problem here is not what Apple allows in the store it owns and maintains. The problem is their draconian restrictions and monopoly on how to get and install the software. It still amazes me that I don't read more grief from people about this. Guess the ones that care have already pwned and are modifying the phone to make it more productive (intelliscreen) and more appealing to me (winterboard). So happy to be free of the walled garden!

first? Acura has had this type of service now for at least a year...

The ability to fast forward through the commercials is a HUGE plus if you ask me. Here is a perfect example that I use all the time.

Football game starts at 1pm (usually lasts 3 hours)
either record or pause at the start
wait about 45 minutes
begin watching
skip through all the commericals at fastest speed, only disrupting game by about 15 seconds each break.
shoot for catching up to the real time action in the 4th quarter along with all the other real-time viewers.

This way, 1) I watch the entire game with less "downtime" in the action 2) I get back 45 minutes to do other things 3) I get the results with everyone else in the world. How can you beat that?

Apple taking Dell's supply of chips?? Maybe Apple is paying Intel double for each Core2 and cutting into Apple's margin for each laptop. Why not? They have what looks to be about a $1000 profit margin on each of those macbook pros.

I think most objective thinkers realize that the main thing the ipod has going for it are its looks. It gets consistently beat spec and feature-wise by its competetion (aside: is it really competetion if they can't compete?). It is a nice design, but I've never been sold on the iPod/iTunes monogamous relationship and pay per song paradigm. The "Big Love" Mp3 subscription is catching on..

Desides - "Just as your attitude is unbiased? Come on, don't confuse the forum trolls for actual users"

Hate to say this, but people I know, including good friends of mine make the same statements of worship about their Macs and stylistic slams about PCs as the forum trolls. Maybe Im exposed to an inaccurate sampling, but thats what I hear 90% of the time.

"Buying Macs only because of their prettiness is a phenomenon that exists only in the minds of those who don't understand why anyone would want one. Excellent job at tipping your thought process, but the whole "Mac users are cultists who worry about aesthetics instead of productivity" is completely imaginary"

completely imaginary? It doesnt take imagination if you read the thousands of posts from Apple fanboys. I cannot tell you how many times Apple users have commented on every shape, size and color of PC variation and labled them as "ugly as sin". Also, in terms of productivity, can you tell me some OSX applications that Windows users need to run at work or at home to be productive? No, but I think it is evident that the reverse is true.

What give Apple lovers the cultist tag is that whereas PC users have always had unbiased reviews about every aspect of PC hardware and software that comes down the pike, Mac users actual believe that each product released by Apple is the best and cannot stand to hear any dissention.

I think regardless of whether dual booting is acheived in a seamless, efficient way this is not going to be that big a feature for 90% of the users of the world. I would be in that 10% but having worked in a IT support capacity, most users have trouble figuring out one OS and will not want to have to learn/use two. (this is part of the reason Apple's market share will never really budge from its current < 5%).

Then if you look at the 10% of more advanced users and the two types of users Apple and Windows--Both platforms have their pros and cons but in order to use a dual boot system you would have to shut down the current OS and move into the next one, killing multitasking productivity. I think Virtual PC is a more efficient choice for a Mac environment.

Finally, for recreational purposes I cant imagine a "home" mac user working in Windows on his mac. It goes against the mac covenant and would be considered uncool for anything but the absolute neccessity. For PC users, I cant imagine them spending the money on the expensive, mostly non-user upgradable hardware for the ability to run OSX. This seems like a situation where some marketering may try and force an "opposites attract" mentality in order to get people to switch but I just dont see it having that big an effect

I agree with Dignan. Adoption of the HD-DVD format will be easier in the minds of most people who are not technically inclined if the format is self-explanatory. In all the talk about features and capacities and studio acceptance, this simple fact has been largely ignored.

The prospect of running OSX on my PC is far more interesting to me than the ability to buy a Mac and then install Windows on it. Keep up the coverage on this angle please!