Apple late Monday released its Mac OS X 10.5.2 update, which addresses many annoying bugs as well as tackling a number of interface issues that bugged longtime users.

According to the technote on the release, users should backup before installing the update (this is really important). And Apple suggested that customers be patient with the updater software.

I am what many people consider an Apple fanboy - even my column is entitled No Windows for Me.

But I'm also a naturally skeptical person. Is Apple really, truly better, or have I just accepted as fact what others say about Apple?

I have decided to perform a 30-day experiment by completely reversing my computing principles to test this.

Readers, this may shock you, but I am about to use Windows - for a full month. This begins when the experiment started, February 6, 2008. It will end one month later, on March 6, 2008.

The main point of this experiment is to determine whether or not Windows is, indeed, unbearably horrid for the average, moderately skilled user. Plain English: To see if I am really as devoted to Apple as I think I am.

Write down the 11th of February as the day that Apple did an about face with one of its fancy new features. The company we both love was perfectly willing to kill the customizable Apple menu that was a trademark feature of the platform without ever bringing the feature back, but when it removed hierarchal folder navigation from the dock to replace it with stacks, it didn't do so for good.

As of Mac OS X 10.5.2, there is now a "List" option for stacks.....

Apple has never encouraged anyone to modify their computers in the slightest way, in fact, dire threats of warranty violations abound at every turn. So that's why its strange to see Apple actually linking to mod sites on the Mac mini page.....

After many of the Linux expos/conventions/meetings/whatever people point out that there seem to be a lot of Macs. So the first question is why do Linux people buy Macs? While, I think few people would dispute that Apples is really good at design. When you look at a standard Dell computer and a MacBook, the MacBook looks way, way better. There are a few other small reasons a Linux geek might use a Mac, such as already owning one, but I doubt that sort of thing is really the explanation for all the Macs.....

Just a few hours after Yahoo! rejected Microsoft's $44.6bn purchase offer, the Redmond-based software giant has responded, reiterating that it "reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal."

While Mac OS X Leopard shipped in late October of 2007, it's rare that the first release or two of a computer operating system will be free of serious bugs. Indeed, with nearly five million users as of the end of 2007, even a small percentage of troublesome installations or irritating bugs can represent one huge problem.

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