Interesting post.
Regarding editing the registry - in effect this is no different to editing configuration files on a unix (I use that term loosely) type machine. It is often percevied that it is acceptable to edit by hand such files on a unix(ish) system (I am not refering only to Macs but other desktop OS such as Linux aswell), but when this hierarchical list of name-value pairs is stored in an evil thing called a "registry" then suddenly this editing is deemed "unacceptable". Perhpaps if it was a little easier to manage a "registry" and revert back to old versions of it then this perception would change.
Regarding you comment about Women and Macs - in general they are statistically well known to place style above other factors, hence the Mac choice; so "technically" they did not choose a better system, just one that had the right (most would agree 'better') image and packaging.