Programming = Crazy?

For all my programming friends out there, and to maybe otherwise educate the unsuspecting public, one of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results each time.  According to wiki.answers.com, Albert Einstein is often attributed with saying this (for Einstein fans, incidentally, check out myscienceheroes.blogspot.com), but the current consensus is author Rita Mae Brown said it in her book Sudden Death in 1983.

Back to programming, or even general computing/computer usage.  How many times have you...

• Installed a new program
• Tested a new piece of code
• Tried a new feature
• Ran into a problem and called a techie friend for help
• Filled out a form on a website
• Tried to send an email

...and had whatever you were doing fail wonderfully after MANY attempts (running it the same way again and again), and all of a sudden, on the fourth, or fifth, or ... twentieth try... it works!

Does it not sound like this line of work is custom-tailored to the kooky??

Opinions welcome :-)

The Big Three - Room for a Fourth?

I'm not referring to auto-makers, although I'm pretty sure 'The Big Three' is a phrase from my childhood (the reference being to GM, Ford and Chrysler, if memory serves) and no longer representative.

Nope, I mean Windows, Mac and Linux.  For personal computing, I'm a Windows guy.  It was my first serious experience with computing and I hit it at a time when Windows 3.1 allowed me to explore and figure out everything the operating system could do in a couple days.  I've evolved with it from there.

Next came 'serious' playing and getting a better understanding of computers, along with more flexibility and tools to do cooler things.  This is Linux, the open source solution. Here's just one link of the thousands of possibilities, but also gives you a quick overview of the many options: http://distrowatch.com/.

Some of my first programming was done on an Apple II (pre-Mac).  This is when I really fell in love with computers.  It represented the tiniest set of simple building blocks (just 1's and 0's) from which AMAZING variety could be created! (Remember, EVERYTHING you're looking at on your computer screen right now is broken down into combinations of those!).  I might have pursued the Apple II more, but the IBM PC came into my life a year later, and I had many more PC zealots surrounding me (I grew up in a neighborhood of IBMers, just not my Dad :-).

Many of my friends have Macs.  Honestly, I like the way they look (the physical design), the graphics are cool, and Apple has some pretty impressive software (I'm rather fond of iTunes).

It's fun to listen to and get in on the debates on which is best.  If you listen long enough though, the strengths of each, which don't have too much overlap in my experience, start to rise to the surface.  Windows has some of the best business software, Macs are great for graphic design and user-friendliness, and you can't beat Linux for the ability to get in there and modify the software (fix bugs, add your own enhancements, etc.).

Now, I know there's room to debate my opinion on the strengths; examples where Mac has a piece of kick-ass business software, or Linux is doing some really cool graphics things, or etc., etc.  But, without going too far down that road, my question is this: How do you get the best of each into one system?  Should one be modified to have the strengths of the other two?  Does a completely new system need to be built that incorporates the best of all three?

Opinions welcome :-)