A difference of philosophies (Score 1)

System design lies on a spectrum, with powerful, flexible functionality on one end, and user-friendly but inflexible functionality on the other. Apple chooses to build their systems closer to the user-friendly-but-inflexible end of the spectrum. That may not be what all their users want, but it's the market they've been targeting for years. And at least they do choose a side; Microsoft typically tries to offer both (i.e., to provide powerful solutions that will allow advanced users to do whatever they want, while at the same time attempting to anticipate what those users will want to do and doing it for them) and ends up with neither.