How easy will it be for me to use imac osx after using windows for the
past 3 years? What will be the gains and losses.

Well, I've studyed this question and I've come up with an answer.  An
imac and windows are actually very easy to learn when you're
converting from one to another.  The advantages of getting an imac is
that it's only one piece, so no computer screen and and processor
apart from each other.  Also, I think that the apple imac osx layout
is much more user friendly than what windows has to offer.  But,
windows (especially xp) has many great features that will be missed
such as the start menu for easy access and I could go on and on.  But
anyway, the best thing about osx and imac and apple computers in
general is that it never freezes!! That's because osx only allows a
minimum amount of programs to run at a certain time.  But it can be
frustrating when you can only have a word proccessor running and not
internet at the same time, but there are ways of getting by.  I
wouldn't say that osx is better because it really isn't, but if you're
a busy person and can get frustrated by a slow and freezing computer
then turn to osx on the imac.

After only using windows for the past 7+ years, I decided to get an
Apple iBook a few months ago. It is really the easiest OS to learn,
and the graphical interface and file structure is still much like
Windows. I was on wireless internet in less than an hour after I
opened the package, try getting it all set up that fast with a PC...

thefigg88 is flat out wrong about Mac OS X and running programs.  Mac
OS X -is- much less crash prone than Windows, but it gets that way
through good programming on Apple's part, not by limiting the number
of programs you can run.  You can run as many programs as you want in
OS X -- I've had more than thirty open at one time.

Many thanks for you answer. I've been using a friend's imac for the
first time ever and I must say I'm very impressed with Panther. When
XP was first released I was very impressed but after many virus
attacks and explorer crashing and the proliferation of fixes and
patches quickly outstripping the programmes I'm getting rather tired.
And the sheer appearance of an imac is impressive as well as stylish.

I may become a convert -

E