In the begining , yes you would have been quite right . However , they do work nearly flawlessly on Macs ( a little latency ) . Windows is such a poor OS that it can't keep up with USB as well as Mac . But , Windows XP is supposed to come as close to the Mac OS as it possibly can . I'ts still a poor OS but it does promise so much more than the Windows of the past . The new USB audio devices are better made and they took a little more time to correct any problems ( not all , but most ) .