You know what I realized this evening... if you think about what we all want in a user interface for an OS, it is exactly what Linux/Mac/Windows are headed towards. The problem isn't hardware, it is software at this point. Up until 2000 we could always blame processing power for our GUI not meeting our expectations. But now, all the operating systems are making headway towards what we expect in a GUI. MAC and Linux are taking the the path of having very limited hardware support to achieve some marginal result with their computers. The problem is that we are either limited to buying MACs , or we are forced to buy specific hardware that is Linux compatible.
I have to admit though that I have been a big Windows critic (though I have a Windows box and Linux box running side by side on my desktop), but I have partially come around. I downloaded WMP 11 this evening and it made me realize that Windows does in fact listen to what we are saying... they are just restricted by the laws of society in that they have to make a product that is appealing to everyone while simultaneously being compliant with all the copyright laws that are out there. I thought I had a pretty smokin system overall... I am one of those build a computer yourself guys who updates components as needed. Still, I was thinking that true transparency would be nice. There is a kind of transparency that is available with linux, but it is not true hardware acceleration... not in the way that I would want it. I think that the home desktop is headed in the direction that Cray station have for almost a decade now. They have a primary processor surrounded by 8 subprocessors which are dedicated for more specialized tasks. I think that we are going in the right direction with deallocating graphics manipulation to the GPU rather than trying to specialize the CPU for doing these kind of things. I have to admit that MAC has a hands up on this avenue, but they are able to do it because they control the hardware that goes into their computer. Windows is forced to be compatible with every joe-schmoe hardware that comes around. If Aero and glass actually come to fruition, I will be definitely shell out the extra money to purchase a high end system, if it means that I will be able to fully appreciate the OS. Alright, I am drunk, so I am going to bed now....