Opinion: First of all, a computer to me is a tool, like a crescent wrench or an anvil. What you DO WITH IT very broadly determines its usefulness, even if rightfully it is valuable to you because the fantastic hardware makes gaming very pleasurable to you. That said, yes, it is the best Microsoft has released. All that means is one hammer hurts less than two hammers. Since 80% of the planet has to use it, there is no real need to improve it very much. Some features STILL have problems I have seen since 98SE. Try plugging in a USB printer twice without it getting confused. Try word-wrapping an unwrapping the text editor without it getting confused, and on and on. My Linux and Mac OS boxes can detect a printer with CUPS and the test page is printed within five minutes, too. The difference is that they've been able to do that effortlessly FOR YEARS. I have made my machines read aloud to me to help me edit since the 80s. Wintel is strangely way behind. My Dictionary is an app built into the MacOS. Preview has always read .pdfs.
To be fair, Windows must, by design be more flexible to allow as few hardware changes as possible AND cannot build-in it's own DVD player, .pdf reader, etc. DVD burning is bare-bones, etc. Unfortunately, this solution has a huge range in quality and features of the bloatware and feeware each manufacturer provides, unless you build your own. Then you are ON your own- not necessarily a bad thing. If you choose to logically rely on Dell, Toshiba, etc., they will take care of you with a warranty you pay for in the price of the hardware. The OS rightfully highly recommends you make your backup image DVDs or external HDD as soon as you customize you hardware.
The conclusion is that it is literally Apples and oranges. You can't realistically compare the two. The only real question is which is the best business model for NON-COMPUTER PEOPLE. In my work I advise teachers, dentists, real estate salespeople, etc. who don't enter this realm the way computer people do. I answer "What do I do when..." questions. Globally, I tend to recommend to agnostics, "IF YOU CAN SWING IT, start with a Mac". You'd be surprised how the overpricing of that hardware sets them back. I heard they are sitting on a huge pile of cash. This is only important because it isn't going into R&D, retail prices, employees, factory workers, California taxes, etc. Mac OS is much easier to use and more flexible for non-computer people. "Computer people" also have much EASIER access to the OS. The reasoning behind this opinion is based on what you get with each OS. Whereas Windows cripples "Home Editions" for absolutely no reason (booooooo! Microsoft. boooooooo!), Apple, through 10.5 (further updates are online purchases) had only two update data DVDs, one for servers, the other for EVERYTHING ELSE. No joke. All the OS developer tools are an optional install on the same $35 disk you bought to go from 10.4 to 10.5! Why even have all those different Windows editions anyway? ...only more confusion for dentists and 2nd grade teachers. Basic protocols are also very clumsy on the Windows side. How often do you shut down Win 7 only to discover you have to leave it on for another half-hour for updates, or get a flag that your computer will automatically restart in 8 minutes- in the middle of your work? ...unacceptable and inexcusable. (Booos also go to Oracle Java and Adobe annoyances.) Mac OS NEVER does this. ALWAYS, if a restart is needed, you are given a chance to postpone. ALWAYS, ANY updates have notifications that can postpone the procedure, and the Mac OS updates can be as verbose as you want, no mysterious "6 updates", etc. They have links to Apple documents describing the purpose for the optional interruption. As I mentioned at the start of this post, Microsoft can be as clumsy and annoying as it wants to be, because 80% of the planet is stuck using it.
Thank you for this forum.