Windows still kinda blows

So yeah, Windows 7.

I will say this, it is certainly better than Vista, on many levels, although it is not hugely different, interface wise.  Much like Snow Leopard on the Mac side of things, is is mainly a performance and optimization upgrade, which seems funny to me in the first place, but whatever.

So why must one pay several hundred dollars to have a version of windows that works better than Vista? Could Vista not be fixed? Apple did the same thing, and they only charged 30 fucking dollars.  And 7 is still windows, so it's still a leaky sieve, security-wise. So what good is Windows for these days?

Games.

That's pretty much it in my book.  It's all I use it for at any rate. Everything else in my computer-based life goes down in OS X.  And from what I've been seeing/reading/hearing/experiencing, this setup is becoming more and more common, even with folk who would be considered "hardcore PC dudes."

Am I preaching the ease-of-use and intuitiveness of Macs, like any good Apple fanboy should?  Maybe a little.  But I honestly have lived through both sides: PC-only and Mac-only, and I gotta tell ya both those options suck. So having both sides of the equation at the ready (in one machine, no less,) makes life a lot easier, and not just for me.

Still, windows pisses me off on a regular basis.  The latest examples are as such:

1) In preparation for the blogging I was going to be doing (this very post to be exact) I pulled out my bluetooth keyboard and attempted to link it up.  It's worth noting that this exact keyboard worked fine under Vista.  The only reason I was trying to link it up in windows was because I has just finished playing some Mass Effect and was in a bloggin mood.  After about 30 minutes of waiting, retrying, restarting, battery-switching, and so on, I finally realized my problem: I was trying to make windows do something I wanted it to do besides gaming. so, a reboot into SL, and literally 15 seconds later my keyboard is up and running. Sigh.

2) This example is especially frustrating, as it involves the software updating portion of windows, which, according to M$, is a "VERY IMPORTANT" thing to do.  Recently, the SP1 update for 7 was released, and of course the automatic updater whines like a.... whiny... whining thing if u leave any updates in your queue, so I download it and let the slow-ass install process begin, which involves a partial install before shutdown, a post-windows configuration, a reboot, a pre-windows configuration, and then finally, an actual installation. So I begin this (apparently) hallowed process, and after the reboot, during the final configuration, it goes all the way to 99% then gives me the error message "Failed Service Pack configuration.... Reverting changes..." This "reverting" process takes 2 reboots and about an hour of my time.  I proceed to go through this whole cycle 5 more times.  The result is the same each time.  I try getting the standalone update; no dice.  So, I hit up Microsoft's "Answers Center," which is a funny name for a set of support forums that from what I can tell no one from MS has ever visited, let alone answer a fucking question. I try all the suggestions there, which include uninstalling Microsoft's own anti-virus (I know, I'm trying not to laugh either) unplugging hard drives, tracking down obscure files and renaming them, all these things I can find, I try, to no avail.  Then I realized my problem: I was expecting Microsoft to know how to update their own software. Needless to say it's been about two weeks and the update still sits in my update queue.

Bullshit.  Macs are not entirely without problems.  But at least they're easy things to fix, typically. And their support forums are actually patrolled by Apple tech guys, so u tend to get some ACTUAL help from these people.

Again, I'm not trying to make a sales pitch for Macs, they tend to do that for themselves pretty well.  You know, by working.