Let’s take a fascinating journey through time, before many of you readers were using Macs or any personal computer for that matter. Back in the 1980s, when most user interfaces were text-based, Apple burst on the scene with the Macintosh.

Even then, though, they only had a minority share of the marketplace (although larger than it is now), and Microsoft soon decided to build a competitive operating system known as Windows. At first, Windows was just a graphical shell atop DOS, but the intent was similar, and that was to bring personal computing to the masses. And, of course. make lots and lots of money.

Even before then, Microsoft’s approach to the tech business was well-established. Over the years, they have asked government regulators for the right to innovate. But, historically, they have merely attempted to play catch up with existing technology and exploit it to beat out the competition by any means possible. Very seldom — if ever — do they actually advance the state of the art, except when it comes to generating record profits from their products.

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So put yourself in this position: You purchased an iPhone, an iPod, or a new Mac. The specific product doesn’t really matter, but the important thing is that it doesn’t perform to your expectations. Far from it, in fact. You bought the gadget on the promise that Apple’s gear “just works,” and found that, as far as you’re concerned, the claim is false.

What can you do to gain satisfaction?

The usual first step would be to call customer service, and that’s usually sufficient to resolve your issues. Or you may bring the malfunctioning product to an Apple Store, and consult someone at the Genius Bar. That form of two-way communication is best, and it also gives Apple a chance to observethe situation at first hand, and that can do wonders.

Before I go on, I’m not dismissing the possibility of getting satisfaction from a third-party Apple reseller. Many are fully dedicated to the Mac platform and will definitely provide skilled assistance.

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Just this week, the estimates came out about how well Apple did in January. According to Piper Jaffray, which has been frequently known to get their figures wrong, Apple is on track to sell between 2 million and 2.2 million Macs for the first three months of 2009, compared to 2.3 million for the same period last year.

Now in this shaky economic climate, I suppose you could say that’s pretty good news. Other PC makers should do as well, and, despite the first drop in Mac sales in quite a while, if that sales rate sustains itself, Apple will probably earn a decent profit. All well and good.

But can you believe Piper Jaffray?

Well, according to the NPD Group, which I regard as having a pretty good degree of credibility, Apple’s retail sells fell 6% in January.

However, it seems that Apple is notorious for exceeding the expectations of analysts in their quarterly statements. “Beat the Street” is a common refrain repeated, even if the stock market doesn’t always approve of the actual numbers.

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After looking at the mock-up for Windows Mobile 6.5, I am apt to think that there’s nothing that Microsoft can do that’s innovative in any fashion. The upgraded interface merely comes across as a mixture of the cheesy Windows desktop environment, along with a Home button essentially copied from the Mac OS, sans the chimney.

Now I don’t know about you, but the effort strikes me as downright pathetic, and I have to wonder whether Microsoft’s kool aid drinkers are actually consuming stronger stuff, and not to their benefit.

Besides, aren’t we past the point where people are going to blindly accept warmed over imitations from Microsoft rather than the real things from Apple and other companies?

Maybe not, because whenever Apple comes up with a new product, Microsoft’s shrinking legion of fanboys will tell us just how pathetic the concept is, and that it’s destined to fail. You read that when the original iPod came out, and when the iPhone was released.

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