[nchlswu]

This analysis has very little to do with User Research. The analysis is all about a fundamental difference in the approach that Microsoft and Apple take to file management.

Microsoft's solution may not be "elegant" or changing their current paradigm, but a paradigm shift is very difficult, especially when you have to accomodate many legacy users. Microsoft's solution always looked (to me) like a decent incremental solution that would work for the Windows user base. What's wrong with that? It may not be as elegant as it can be, but it's definitely not as ugly as so many are making it out to be. And if it works, what's wrong with that?