my thoughts exactly. "it just works"
no spyware, viruses like windows
unix stability

biggest con for me, its not free

Doesn't project looking glass count as a 3d gui? Even though it is made by Sun, it is open source so I'm sure it would be easy to port it to Linux (if not just compile it on Linux).
I don't really see the need of a 3d GUI. All it does is gives you another way to look at your windows, and as far as I can see, chew up more system resources unless you have a very powerful graphics card.

I get bored so I get a mac mini. I do not have the original apple monitor, maybe its the cause making the fonts blurry just like freetype 2.1.5. Other than that I do not have big complain.

One of the big differences between mac and linux is that it has apple control from top to bottom, so everything is expected to work without headaches but pleasures.

A Mac is like a easy yet advanced linux distro with every hardware pre-configurated and guaranteed.

That is one of the area's where linux does have troubles in. It can be a pain in the arse to configure, where as Apple Mac's and Windows does do (almost) everything for you. This can be good for certain things such as server's, but a basic computer user doesn't expect to spend most of their time infront of a command line. When people make things for Linux that doesn't expect the user to be competent using it, then I believe it will be suitable for desktop use for everybody.
Yes, it is possible to use Linux for everyday use, but (with Debian this is, not sure about other distro's) when I put a CD in my drive, it doesn't mount. I have to use the mount command to get it to work. Same with floppies and usb devices (I seem to remember Mandrake auto mounting devices though) and this will just complicate matters for the standard user.
Actually, the Mac kernel is a modified BSD kernel. However as you say, it is guaranteed and the hardware is all pre-configured which makes it easier for use.

If you use KDE (3.3.1 on Slackware 9.1 should)... you can go to devices:/ and double click on the drive to mount or right click to mount/unmount. I don't think I installed any automount features.

Thanks for the tip. I have tried using automount features but they haven't worked yet... I don't tend to use removable devices anyway so I'm not too bothered

You can't generalized from Debian. Have you used Mepis? Linspire? Xandros? These all automount and put on your desktop new media, and you don't need the command-line to set them up.

I have used Debian, Slackware and Gentoo which are I suppose more hand's on distro's. I have used Mandrake which did automount but not very well. Yes, it configured everything for me, but was more difficult to configure (dependancy hell, php4 didn't have features I wanted in the Mandrake rpm version etc...). I haven't used any of those you have suggested, so I suppose you are fair in saying that I am generalizing because of Debian.

My introduction to computers was when I was in music school at university. At that time, computer geeks carried stacks of punchcards held together with rubber bands to do their homework. This was not my idea of a good time.

The school had gotten an apple II for the electronic music lab. It mostly was used for games-all the music work was still done on an old moog analog and some four track open reel tape decks. Later, in the early eighties, we used the first of the midi devices to hook up a prophet 600 and a brand-new DX7 to the same Apple II. It could do simple sequencing, and could store patches for the DX7 (the prophet used cassette tape for memory!). We looked at the IBM pc and thought 'nice typewriters'.

Then, in 1986, I worked at a school that had just bought a Mac+, 1 meg of ram and a 20 Mb external hard drive. This was my first experience with a mouse. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Well, system 6, performer 1.0 sequencer, digidesign 1.0 sample editing tools. We made a bit of music with those!

Fast forward to 1998. Apples were not very good. I bought my first pc, win 95 with free upgrade to 98. Much advanced, crashed a lot. Still, I could do a lot on it. The next year I got a job at an elementary school as their tech coordinator/computer teacher/network guy. They had all Macs running 7.5 to 8.6, and strung together on ethernet. I bought two books--one on tcpip and one on troubleshooting macs. I managed to keep the network and servers up for two years, with little real computer knowledge. OS X was an eyeopener. I bought a powerbook when jaguar came out. It was incredible! (BTW I'm typing on it right now). I played with X and fink and did some command line stuff. My friends in the telecom biz were right. *nix was cool!

This summer I had some free time, so I loaded FC4 on the above 1998 vintage pc. Worked great. Love linux. However, it was the stuff I learned with networks and OS X that made the switch easier.

I'm still doing the public school thing, although I'm teaching music now (heavy into music tech still).

So what is better mac or linux?

both/neither

For teachers that just need to 'get something done' right away - mac still is best.
If you want to have an inexpensive server, or your budget is small and you have time to 'mount the learning curve', then it's linux.
Windoze-too much overhead--spyware, adware, malware--Junk. Bloated, overpriced, hard to configure on a network. A monopoly. A time-waster.

sorry for the ramble; just my $.02.

In some ways, it's nonsensical to compare Linux with Mac or Windows, as Linux you will almost always have to install yourself or have a friend install for you. If Linux is set up properly, it's just as easy as (some would argue easier to use than) Mac OS X. Apple will set up OS X for you. The question is "Who's going to set up Linux?"

Well I feel bad because I haven't posted for quite a while here @ linuxquestions.org... The reason being, I bought a mac mini! Wow! It's amazing how things just work. Sure linux was cool to play with but you eventually get bored irritated with it, or u dont. I don't think I'll ever runs windows or linux personally on a desktop again. I have no need. I think Macs and mac os would be used more widespread if it wasnt so expensive. Anyways, hope i havent upset anyone.

Cheers.

Well said, Equinox.

I only have Linux to play with and to use as a server.

Well I work for a Linux company (Raspberry Solution www.raspberry.co.za) so I still use linux on a daily basis, like my desktop at work runs FC4. And I have to support and maintain my clients servers. After using mac os x i think that linux has a far way to go to compete with windows and mac as a desktop. But for servers BSD/Linux are tops. I would love to give every windows user a mac mini and make then see the light lol!