I'm not sure how calling the Mac a "non-issue" is NOT anti-Mac, but that's just me.
Let me be clear here guys,
you are still working under a false assumption, (If only bold was so easy on the Reader!
). Mac support can generate huge profits, even though (as you say) Windows is more popular in the home. Here's two examples, that are NOT Photoshop or Quark!
Microsoft Office -- About 10 years ago, Bill Gates made a public promise to develop office for the next 5 years (I won't go in to the politics of this). Now 10 years later, we're waiting on an Intel Native version, which the Microsoft MacBU is working on, and due sometime this year. Well beyond Gates' original promise, but still going strong.
While Microsoft makes most of their profits off Windows Sofware, the Mac Business Unit is VERY profitable. I once read that they made a half-billion dollars per year off the Mac alone, but I don't have a reference so sprinkle that number with salt. Regardless of the specifics, they make big money, and the MacBU will probably never be shutdown.
Let me be clear on this, I'm talking about
Microsoft here!
The iPod. You know that it became the best-selling MP3 player when it was still Mac only? It took over a year, maybe two, IIRC for Apple to make the thing work with Windows. Sure that opened it up to much greater acceptance, but once again, just with the Mac, it was so successful its sales emberrassed every other MP3 player out there.
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That's what I find slightly puzzling, you see. You say that you have "Mac friends". I don't; I certainly know people who own Macs, but they all have PCs too...
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In terms Mac being purely "niche," you're wrong here too -- I once saw a list of the ten most popular Windows programs, and every one was available on the Mac too. I have existed Mac-only since 1992, with no need for Windows at all. (Edit: technically, Internet Exporer is no longer supported, but I still have a working version, albiet old and crappy.)
Okay, so you say you understand Sony's reluctance to support the Mac. But
even Microsoft doesn't understand that decision! And the iPod proved that even a solid Mac-only piece of hardware could become a monsterous profit windfall.
Sony is being short-sighted by locking the Reader in to Windows. They are cutting out a huge population of users -- who, as I mentioned previously, tend to be more likely to purchase cool, bleeding-edge products. And I'm betting the same would go for Linux users.
Sony needs to provide Mac support for the Reader, and it's a
good business decision to do so!
-Pie