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Windows 7 Igniting Touchscreen PC Market
ericatcw writes "Apple Inc. may still be coy about whether it plans to launch a touch-screen tablet computer this year, but Windows PC makers are forging right ahead. In the past three weeks, five leading PC makers have announced or been reported to confirm plans to release touch-screen PCs in time for the multi-touch-enabled Windows 7, reports Computerworld. Many appear to be using technology from New Zealand optical touch vendor, NextWindow, which already supplies HP's market-leading TouchSmart line, and Dell's Studio One. NextWindow's CEO says the company is working with partners on 8-10 products set for launch within two months, in time for Windows 7's October 22nd release."
The current Macbooks have a touchpad interface that supports multi-touch. You can right click on those by pressing and holding with one finger and then tapping with a second finger.
Scenario #2 sounds more like Apple to me. Heck, if you want to recompile the MacOS X kernel and install your version on your laptop you are free to. Apple popularized USB for hardware interconnect. Apple publishes Windows drivers to make it easier to run that OS on its hardware, and linux is fully supported as well. And there is no application signing on the desktop (although personally, I think there should be. Not that it should have to be Apple or that you should be required to buy from a particular store, but just a signature that states "Here's who distributed this, here's the certificate authority that will vouch for my identity, and the bits you're getting are the bits I shipped.")
E pluribus unum
A slimmed down version of Vista with aero disabled and alot of clutter removed can run on pretty much any old system with enough hard drive space.
The Macbook Air is still being sold, and apparently sells well enough that they upgraded the hardware along with the rest of their portables rather than killing it off. The people that like it use it because it has full computer performance with a still very thin form factor.
Mac users don't use them because they're cheap, someone looking for a cheap netbook wouldn't have looked at Apple in the first place therefore it is unlikely that netbooks have caused any change in their sales.
I had a similar experience, in that I recently bought an HP, and found out right after it arrived that they had sent me a neatly packaged but dull turd. For just $50 more, they would have polished it.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere