[fryke]

Generally, BootCamp does not much than enable you to install Windows XP "on that PC" you've got there. Hardware-wise, there's not much different in a Mac than in a PC nowadays. BootCamp also gives you a CD with drivers for the hardware XP doesn't know about out of the box. So... You generally get a great running Windows XP. I haven't run into problems, myself. (Then again I don't use that Live chat thingie on XP.)

But on topic of the original post: You're mixing things. Sales reps are not "Microsoft". So it's not really about Microsoft's best interests when a sales rep is taught not to push Macs. Also, he might simply not know the first thing about Macs, and then it wouldn't make much sense for him to show you a Mac, because all that would show was that he doesn't know anything...

That's where we come in. Are you in a store that sells Macs? Does a sales rep push a person towards a PC? Step in, start asking questions about the Macs on the floor, correct the sales rep when he talks stupid, push the person towards the Mac. If there _is_ an interest in the Mac at first, then that person will happily follow you to the light.