As a OS X user and recent switcher, I’ve found lots of things to like about OS X. Applications install simpler. Lot’s of built in features. Usability and security are more integrated and easier to use in a way that I don’t have to think about things – just do them.
There are a few things that don’t work as well though. Uninstalling applications require external tools. I’ve found networking to be more complex though this may be because I’m trying to talk to Windows machines and if you were just talking to other OS X machines it may be simple.
One thing that many old time OS X users just gloss over though is that there is a lot of maintenance that makes the system perform well. Many of these maintenance items are made easier by using external apps like Onyx. Also some of the maintenance items are bad if done too often and bad if not done often enough. Also, you should do them after certain tasks (installing certain items like system updates).
These maintenance items are neither worse nor better than Windows but knowing that you need to do this changes the perspective on the overall system. Windows has lots of things that are good to do once in a while to that improve stability and performance but mostly, tech or geeks are the only people who know to do them. That’s why I put OS X on par with Windows for this point.
Of course, I’m still using OS X and that says a lot. I like the OS and I like the boxes that Apple makes. There are issues but I think that they are less than I get with other systems – at least for now.