In Microsoft's perspective, there is little difference between its own Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Mac OS X Tiger, Apple's currently available operating system for the Mac platform. As a matter of fact, the boundary that separates Windows XP and Tiger is not even a thin line, it has melted away and is blurred almost completely. Otherwise, how can you explain the screenshot I have integrated at the bottom of this article?

The error message was produced on an attempt to access Windows Update from a genuine copy of Windows XP SP2 via Internet Explorer 7. "Thank you for your interest in obtaining updates from our site. This website is designed to work with Microsoft Windows operating system only. To find updates for Microsoft products that are designed for Macintosh operating system, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/mac/," reads the erroneous Microsoft error message.

How did the Redmond company manage to detect IE7 on top of Windows XP, making use of the built in Windows Update functionality as Mac OS X, is beyond me. But the result is nothing short of hilarious. "This website is designed to work with Microsoft Windows operating system only." really now? I guess Windows XP SP2 fails to qualify as a Windows operating system. Is this yet another Wow sign from Microsoft that its time to haul a*s and migrate to Windows Vista?

But of course the issue is… is Vista cataloged as a Windows platform? Or will using Vista too revert users to Microsoft updates for Mac OS X. But, putting this example aside, Microsoft did have a get go at introducing funny instead of cryptic in its error messages. The Redmond company's Photosynth and the new project delivering 3D imagery of the Endeavour shuttle on the Kennedy Space Center launchpad offers an insight into a more relaxed approach to error messages.

Vista on the other hand is in a league all of its own. But still, hardcore Windows fans will stop at nothing to praise their favorite platform, and immortalizing the ubiquitous blue screen of death in their skin is just a starting point.