I would be more concerned with losing access to all the Mac software I've invested in over the years, both for myself and for my child. A new BeOS or a "Windows99" might turn out to be the greatest thing since whatever; but if switching to them meant the obsolesence of all or most of our favorite Mac applications and CD-ROMs, I would hesitate to abandon the MacOS entirely. (Well hey, I know some friends who have both VHS as well as an old Betamax machine, so as to avoid the costly conversion of many of their older tape titles in their library. If they can keep a Beta machine going all these years, I guess I could stick it out with my Mac?)

Well, at least for the time being, Apple SEEMS committed to "evolving" into a new operating system with MacOS back-compatibility, rather than replacing it outright with some incompatible NeXT "hybrid", as some writers for "WinTel PC" columns seem to be dwelling on.