[ex2bot]

Developer tools:
I don't know what they're including with iBooks, but I thought that they were including XTools (the new name for the OS X developer tools) with the rest of the operating system. It's on its own disk. if you continue to have problems, you might want to use your 90 day free tech support and get them to find it for you.

X-Windows:

OS X uses a proprietary windowing system called Aqua, derived from the NextStep Postscript-based windowing system from the olden days. It is VERY powerful, with a sophisticated compositing engine, true transparency, in many ways much more powerful than ANYTHING out there.

But, if you want to run X-Windows applications, you'll need X-Windows. If you don't want to run OpenOffice, Gimp, etc., forget about X11. There are many, many powerful programs that run natively on OS X.

Case Sensitivity:
There was a lot of discussion about case sensitivity problems early on. Except in very rare situations, it hasn't been a problem at all.

OpenOffice:
I have a Lexmark inkjet. I don't know about HP printers. BTW, OS X uses CUPS, so you will have access to a gazillion printer drivers. That's helpful mostly if you have older printers.

OS X Mail:
I argree with you about HTML messages mostly. But I subscribe to Lockergnome and some other HTML newsletters. It's nice being able to see the thing correctly.

You can actually set preferences so that the program doesn't load imbedded messages and objects in HTML messages. Go to the application menu (the menu named for the program) and select Preferences>Viewing.

BTW, malicious HTML messages have thus far had no effect on Macs.

Doug