I think you're right in that the way you describe windows in terms of speed, privacy and etc is correct (more or less), but I would not say disparity in market

I think you're right in that the way you describe windows in terms of speed, privacy and etc is correct (more or less), but I would not say disparity in market share is confounding. >under microsofts control and works to wrench power from the user I think that you and I are alike in that we care how we use a computer, what that computer is, what kind of software runs on it and so on. The key bit of empathy we need to understand the reason why most people use something that "works to wrench power from the user" as you put it, is that in fact most users want that powered wrenched from them because with power comes responsibility and for most people that juice is not worth the squeeze. You can now create documents, communicate with people and consume entertainment (that is to say, most of what most people use a computer for) by doing little more than poking at a limited selection of large rectangles on a screen. Most people are happy with this and it's pretty hard to convince someone that they should spend time from their life on the effort of learning a new UI or an alternative operating system, or even think at all about what their operating system is. Honestly I get their position, and if I didn't care about computers I probably would not either.