<p>"Of course they know that nobody in their right mind would do this since the Mac OS is vastly superior to anything Microsoft has every pushed out (look at Vista... it's a botched up attempt to copy OS X)."</p>
<p>I'd guess that a majority of Mac OSX users have Windows (preferably XP) as either dual-boot or via virtual machine installed on their systems. Microsoft owns a non-trivial amount of Apple so Microsoft does benefit when Apple does well although Microsoft would rather do well selling their own Operating Systems.</p>
<p>The Apple ecosystem is very nice but your typical college student will frequently run into situations where software that requires Windows unless the university really goes out of their way to provide alternatives. College Professors typically like to use whatever tools they want to so getting them all lined up to avoid Windows-only software can be quite difficult.</p>
<p>For those who can't be bothered to read that, this article discusses one benefit the writer saw from switching OSes: the user learns to become more adaptable on the computer. As the user learns to do the same old thing in different ways, he learns more about how to really use the computer instead of memorizing a set of instructions for how to use it.</p>
<p>I say don't be scared to switch OSes. It might teach you something new, and maybe you'll like your new OS better anyway. Personally, I'd just get Linux and save the money. I dual boot between Arch Linux and Windows XP, and I must say I like Arch a hell of a lot more than XP... it's mostly the ease with which I can install/update all the applications I need.</p>
<p>As for BCEagle91: That professor seems like a funny guy... hahahahahahaha.</p>