PCs have the dreaded blue screen of death. Macs have the dreaded beach ball of death. While I despise both, the latter is more common and often more frustrating. It just stares at you, seemingly taunting you because you can move it but it won’t let you click anything. A friend and avid Mac user said of the beach ball, “It’s like it’s sticking its tongue at you.” You know: “kneener, kneener, kneener.”

On a PC, your system will freeze, but Windows will actually let you click on stuff, making you feel partially in control. You’ll pay for it later. Once the system catches up, a boat load of windows will pop up. But I’ll take a clickable pointer over a spinning beach ball of death any day.

Take note, Apple. We hate your stupid beach ball.

Newsweek has the story:

Apple is looking like what Microsoft was 10 years ago—a Bigfoot that squeezes smaller competitors. A former lieutenant of Steve Jobs’s once told me something surprising about his ex-boss. “Steve is a monopolist at heart,” he said. “He’s just like Bill Gates. He just hasn’t been as successful.”

Gone are the days where Apple was the hip underdog. Now they’re becoming the cool monopoly, and I’m fine with it so long as their products stay fresh and the prices remain competive.

Behold, this is what Redmond is using to combat the effective and clever “I’m a Mac” ads. It’s bland, forgettable, and awkward — outside of the Spanish subtitles and quick shower scene.

I really like Seinfeld, and I’m a Windows XP user, but this is more Bee Movie and Office Paperclip style than anything else. Too bad.

Though I widely disagree with DeadBolt’s Top 10 picks (Beowulf? You cannot be serious), the movie portal makes a strong case for most of their selections, with Pixar rightfully sweeping the top five slots. As for me, Ratatouille is easily the greatest computer animated film ever made, and one of the best feature films of all time — animated or otherwise.