Re: FUD?

"As for Apple laptops (and indeed desktops), i would suspect that they're growing popularity owes an awful lot more to Bootcamp than it ever could to OSX."

@Rich Bryant

Boot Camp, along with Parallels and VMWare Fusion, are just the safety blankets that make a Windows user feel 'safe' about their switch to a Mac. I'm not doubting that there aren't some misguided people who buy a Mac to use solely as a Windows machine, but I think anecdotal evidence indicates that this is extremely rare, otherwise Mac OS X would be losing market share, which it clearly isn't, as indicated by web usage reports.

Apple's switch to Intel processors has made buying a Mac a no-brainer of a decision. You can have it all. Mac OS X, sexy hardware, great performance, AND full compatibility with those pesky Windows apps you need for work, or the latest Windows only game. The best part is, when you're done work or playing games, you can shut down Windows and surf the web with impunity with no worries about your machine getting hosed by some virus or infested with spyware.

For most switchers to Mac however, I think the reliance on the safety blanket is short lived as users quickly realize they can get everything they need done in the much more satisfying Mac OS X. That Boot Camp partition or virtual machine disk image ends up getting wiped within a year to reclaim disk space for more important stuff, like your photos, music and home movies. ;-)