Anderton
I ran Mac only from 1985 to 1995. Then I discovered that Windows could do more for less money. Since that time, I've run both Mac and Windows, both laptop and desktop. 
 
Honestly, I see very little difference between the two these days. I use Windows for the heavy lifting with audio and video, and the Mac for office work, writing, and publishing. There are still a few points of differentiation; if you're savvy, you can get more performance out of a Windows machine for less money, they're easier to repair/replace, and they're better at backwards compatibility. Macs are easier in terms of hooking up peripherals, have better audio handling, and are pretty much essential for publishing. But the reality is the Mac isn't as special as Mac people think it is; and with RISC gone on the Mac, Windows machines don't have the kind of performance edge they once did.
 
When you buy into Apple, you need to do it with eyes open. Apple makes money on the hardware, so they'll make sure you need to upgrade hardware periodically. Microsoft makes money on software, so they want to make sure it runs on anything...and as many SONAR users have found out, just because you can open Windows doesn't make it an ideal environment for running SONAR.
 
It's all good. Except, of course, for when either OS is having a hissy fit. Then it's all bad.

Craig is absolutely spot on. I run both Mac and Windows as well. The last time I bought a Mac laptop was in 2001, when the Macbook Pro was pretty much the fastest intel based machine I could get my hands ont - though it was still massively overpriced. I bought an iMac a few years back - but it too has recently been replaced by a hp Recline - with a touchscreen!  Unheard of in macland. I bootcamped the imac and run it as a windows media server;) Even areas where Macs are the norm - such as graphic design - I still find windows every bit as good - and often faster. Since windows 7, a well tuned windows machine is every bit as stable as a mac. Bang for buck there is no contest.

Rain

gothic.angel
 
things like "OSX is actually significantly better at handling audio and midi" are old wearisome LEGENDS...
 

Incorrect.
 
One exemple - I actually get better performance and latency from my audio interface using Apple's own default Core Audio drivers than with the manufacturer's drivers. Tested and verified time and time again, with my old M-Audio and my current Focusrite interface.
 
Heck, my old Fast Track can no longer be used with recent version of OSX - unless I wipe AVID/M-Audio's drivers and let OSX take care of handling it... 
 
Another exemple: Apple have allowed for low-latency audio on their phones and tablets for years. Alternatives are just catching up - see IK Multimedia's recent announcement.
 
The fact is that Apple has always placed a very strong focus on audio and video - and it's a fact, regardless of whether one likes Apple or not. They're selling systems with audio applications on them such as Garage Band which have to work out of the box. And they do.
 
They have their own DAW, Logic, which is a top notch audio application, with an all-star line of synths and processors. They have MainStage, which is one of the most widely used host application on stages around the world. And they've just acquired Camel Audio. Clearly, Apple loves multimedia, and they're selling you an experience.
 
That's where the difference lies - you buy a computer from them, and you're ready to go*. No need to download drivers and install tons of 3rd party tools - everything is integrated. Now, you don't have to like that, and some people prefer custom, and that's alright. But you can't disregard facts.
 
Last Mac I bought, it took me something like 2 or 3 hours, from the moment I walked in the store to the time I was home, launching my DAW with all its 40GB of content installed. Never had to worry about such things as optimization - unless running Pro Tools which is not the greatest in terms of performance.
 
* On the other hand, as Mr. Anderton pointed out, the latest incarnations of OSX certainly have lost their simplicity for us audio and video guys. It used to be that you'd pick up a Mac off the shelf, install your DAW software and be good to go. 
 
With Yosemite, and to a lesser extent most OSX revisions since Lion, that's no longer true. If I could buy a few dozen pre-Yosemite computers for the future, I'd do so. 
 
None of this, obviously, takes anything away from Sonar on a PC. It's a different mean to an end, period.
 

Estoy totalmente deacuerdo con tu respuesta, si un equipo en mac esta configurado para funcionar bien, ya no te tienes que preocupar en configuraciones, en Windows si te montas un pc a tu decisión, y verificado por windows, esto en este escenario no se cumple en windows....
Lo unico que uno aficionado quiere es pasarlo bien, encender el sistema y crear musica de todos los colores, sin mas preocupaciones. 

Rain
 
That's NOT what I said if you read what I wrote instead of cherry picking the parts that confirm your own bias. Let's stick with facts - no one benefits from propaganda, whether it's for or against Apple.
 
Audio and MIDI handling are by far better handled on OSX - that valid even on Yosemite. Even Mr. Anderton's posts confirm that.
 
What Yosemite change is that it's now closer to Windows in terms of needing to be optimized - having some eye candy turned off for example. THAT's the novelty. Overall computer performance out of the box - not audio and MIDI per se.
 
Being commonplace doesn't make it any less true - the very vast majority of pro commercial studios, big time productions (such as Cirque du Soleil shows) and major league artists such as Nine Inch Nails are ALL using Mac. These are productions and facilities that generate millions every year and provide jobs for countless people. 
 
Other than on an anecdotal basis here or there, PC's did not replace Mac and nothing indicates that they will anytime soon - they simply answer the needs of another clientele, often consisting of self-employed independent or small operations or aspiring musicians. And then some big facilities, obviously. As a whole, it does account for a large market.
 
So there's room for both.

Rain,
 
nothing to do with what you  specifically said...
just pointing out that these days there's no real big difference between Win and Mac in dealing with Audio and MIDI... therefore my meaning of those "commonplaces" that don't really make sense ANY longer... that's my meaning and my view.... 
 
far as the "commercial studios" deal.... yes, Mac WAS the most natural choice in those times when the industry "standard" began, but again, NOWADAYS it has nothing to do with performances or quality. It's because Macs (and Pro Tools...) were there at the right time in the right place, and today it's still "rooted tradition"...
 
In the meantime, Windows PC have become capable of much more powerful configurations, and recent Apple's market "strategies" mainly focused on i-Things and their relative targets have led a certain amount of customers (and studios...) to open their eyes....
 
Then personal experience: I work with Windows, and I happen to work with Macs with some of my colleague's too...
Well, of course BOTH have issues, but when it comes to performances, Macs become poor thing...
Apple LOGIC (especially since v8..) is buggy as hell (so it's not brilliant exception among DAWs), Cubase, Ableton Live and Propellerhead Reason run MUCH more fluently and smoothly on Windows...!!!
Ableton Live, in particular, crashes  on Macs as I never see on Windows...
 
And let me add, just as a personal consideration, that Windows has a certain DAW called SAMPLITUDE/SEQUOIA...
..audio editing (in particular...) at its VERY BEST...!!!
Depeche Mode (their engineers), just for instance, recorded their last tour performances on it.....
quite "professional" I would say...
 
So it's true, in the end, there's actually room for both platforms.

Anderton
I ran Mac only from 1985 to 1995. Then I discovered that Windows could do more for less money. Since that time, I've run both Mac and Windows, both laptop and desktop. 
 
Honestly, I see very little difference between the two these days. I use Windows for the heavy lifting with audio and video, and the Mac for office work, writing, and publishing. There are still a few points of differentiation; if you're savvy, you can get more performance out of a Windows machine for less money, they're easier to repair/replace, and they're better at backwards compatibility. Macs are easier in terms of hooking up peripherals, have better audio handling, and are pretty much essential for publishing. But the reality is the Mac isn't as special as Mac people think it is; and with RISC gone on the Mac, Windows machines don't have the kind of performance edge they once did.
 
When you buy into Apple, you need to do it with eyes open. Apple makes money on the hardware, so they'll make sure you need to upgrade hardware periodically. Microsoft makes money on software, so they want to make sure it runs on anything...and as many SONAR users have found out, just because you can open Windows doesn't make it an ideal environment for running SONAR.
 
It's all good. Except, of course, for when either OS is having a hissy fit. Then it's all bad.

...couldn't agree more...
...these are THE points.........

tenfoot
 
Craig is absolutely spot on. I run both Mac and Windows as well. The last time I bought a Mac laptop was in 2001, when the Macbook Pro was pretty much the fastest intel based machine I could get my hands ont - though it was still massively overpriced. I bought an iMac a few years back - but it too has recently been replaced by a hp Recline - with a touchscreen!  Unheard of in macland. I bootcamped the imac and run it as a windows media server;)
Even areas where Macs are the norm - such as graphic design - I still find windows every bit as good - and often faster. Since windows 7, a well tuned windows machine is every bit as stable as a mac. Bang for buck there is no contest.

 
 
+1
 
...my very same experience... IMHO, that's today's set-up...
that's why I mean tunes like "Macs are better at this and that..." are senseless nowadays. 
 
Regards to ya all, me mates.

I am on PC for many of those same reasons. That doesn't take away from the fact that OSX has done something really well with CoreAudio and audio handling on the OS level. Plus the unlimited midi devices thing. I ran into the Windows device limit almost weekly and have since resorted to religiously uninstalling any drivers I'm not actually using at that time, and removing midi ports with a special utility. If I explain this to any of my Mac using studio friends they just laugh and shake their heads.

GothicAngel, es cierto que la discusión entre mac y windows, se hace pesada, pero el opinar sobre este asunto deja la balanza en el sentido que a cada uno le parece, y creo que aunque se canse uno de leer, siempre las aportaciones son positivas.
La enorme flexibilidad que me da windows, en en todos los sentidos ya sumados, me inclino personalmente hacia windows y ademas con sonar....
Es cierto que llevo mas  tiempo de la cuenta con inestabilidad en el sistema, que me lo busque con tranquilidad para tener una pc regular, y que ahora con este cabreo, me replanteo otras opciones. Tus comentarios así como otros me vienen bien para ver algo de luz, voy a reinstalarlo todo y ver si consigo una configuración optima del equipo con sonar.
Asi que gracias y siento si te he molestado....

gothic.angel
 
 
Rain,
 
nothing to do with what you  specifically said...
just pointing out that these days there's no real big difference between Win and Mac in dealing with Audio and MIDI... therefore my meaning of those "commonplaces" that don't really make sense ANY longer... that's my meaning and my view.... 
 
far as the "commercial studios" deal.... yes, Mac WAS the most natural choice in those times when the industry "standard" began, but again, NOWADAYS it has nothing to do with performances or quality. It's because Macs (and Pro Tools...) were there at the right time in the right place, and today it's still "rooted tradition"...
 
In the meantime, Windows PC have become capable of much more powerful configurations, and recent Apple's market "strategies" mainly focused on i-Things and their relative targets have led a certain amount of customers (and studios...) to open their eyes....
 
Then personal experience: I work with Windows, and I happen to work with Macs with some of my colleague's too...
Well, of course BOTH have issues, but when it comes to performances, Macs become poor thing...
Apple LOGIC (especially since v8..) is buggy as hell (so it's not brilliant exception among DAWs), Cubase, Ableton Live and Propellerhead Reason run MUCH more fluently and smoothly on Windows...!!!
Ableton Live, in particular, crashes  on Macs as I never see on Windows...
 
And let me add, just as a personal consideration, that Windows has a certain DAW called SAMPLITUDE/SEQUOIA...
..audio editing (in particular...) at its VERY BEST...!!!
Depeche Mode (their engineers), just for instance, recorded their last tour performances on it.....
quite "professional" I would say...
 
So it's true, in the end, there's actually room for both platforms.

I don't know how we have to word it, friend - there is a difference in the way OSX handle audio and MIDI - it is not a matter of opinion, and it hasn't changed w/ Yosemite.
 
OSX natively handles audio better than Windows. Keyword is natively.
 
Craig Anderton himself says so. You keep quoting his posts and mine and yet you seem to misinterpret them to fit "your meaning and opinion". But it's not about opinions - it's a FACT.
 
Now, what happens after you install drivers and audio applications on a PC is a different story. But we're talking about the OS itself, with its own default configuration, drivers and settings. 
 
As for industry standards, you rightly point one of the reasons. There are many others, the whole ecosystem/integration also being one of them, and not so unimportant as one could think. Another one is that most people in the industry don't want to configure and set up a computer, download 3rd party apps, and drivers, choose a back up application and so on.
 
Assumptions are a funny things. People tend to say that the industry uses Mac because it's a standard, because of this, because of that - as if it couldn't be a choice. Truth is, most of the folks I speak with simply prefer Mac. As simple as that. All the rest is assumptions.
 
You may have some knowledge of Macs working with friends - but unless one spends some serious time working with Macs and Logic, I don't think they're qualified to make a call on them. Logic 8 was quite a long time ago - 2007-2008. And yes, there were a few tough years. But that's no longer relevant, is it?
 
Then came 2009. Logic 9 was actually the most sable DAW I've worked with, and that is first hand experience, here. I'm talking about running it a minimum of 5 days a week, 8-12 hours a day. For years. The only crashes I have ever had were caused by a couple of poorly coded 3rd party plug-ins - Line 6 POD Farm and another one I forget. 
 
Logic X does run pretty smoothly - not quite as solid as 9, but that's because 9 was phenomenal. X is at least as good/better than anything else I've worked with. 
 
Pretty much everyone I know in the business runs Logic and Pro Tools, and I've never heard anyone of them complain about Logic's stability since 9. X does require a newer, more powerful computer.
 
As for Ableton Live, it runs on a Macbook onstage 2 shows a night, 5 days a week, in front of thousand people, and has done so for over 4 years w/o a hitch. My guess is that it's used in other productions here too...
 
Again, I'm not saying PCs aren't a viable option. I could do music as well on a PC running Sonar. But in terms of market, for one major league production you name, such as Depeche Mode (of whom I am a huge fan), I can probably name 1000 who use Mac.
 

To be continued.  

Rain
And let me add, just as a personal consideration, that Windows has a certain DAW called SAMPLITUDE/SEQUOIA...
..audio editing (in particular...) at its VERY BEST...!!!
Depeche Mode (their engineers), just for instance, recorded their last tour performances on it.....
quite "professional" I would say...
 

Ah the nice boys (slightly pervy) of Mute.
Off to run out and buy an Atari ST, Emulator III and a Fairlight (don't have an iPhone to download the app) just to remember the old days

Violator was recorded at my old studio and a friend of mine did some of the programming... fond memories...