..is that Mac users generally do their own support for most stuff. From my own perspective, that's because most Mac problems tend to be fairly simple and solved by things like:

- rebuilding the desktop
- zapping the PRAM
- trashing preference files
- booting with extensions disabled
- <might be more but I can't recall>

In OS X, the self-service lore hasn't reached such a level of refinement yet. (however, sites like www.macosxhints.com are making a great start.)

I responded to this because I ran into an OS 9 issue this morning. I booted into 9 on my tower for the first time in months (never mind why) and decided to run Software Update. After it ran and installed several packages, it reported an error and advised me to look at the software log. At that point, I couldn't boot into 9 without the video going all wonky on me, completely out of sync.

I booted off my DiskWarrior CD, trashed the System, Finder and General preference files, rebooted and all was well. Strangely enough, I felt a warm glow of nostalgia which really made my day. Ah, to be young again....