I am not trying to make this an argument about semantics, and it seems like the OP is on the right track now. The point I hope new users take from this thread is that things can be really confusing because there is a lot of jargon associated with digital black and white printing and QuadToneRIP, and all that jargon tends to get thrown around a little too casually.
Words like profile, presets, curves, etc. have different meanings depending on their context, and we shouldn't assume that new users are going to be able to easily ascertain those different meanings from many of these kinds of threads. Who, other than people with much more than a basic knowledge of working with QTR, would know that Ernst's comment about "a QTR created profile" is in reference to an ICC profile created with the QTR-Create-ICC script included in the QTR download? Even then, without proper context, a "QTR created profile" could be confused with a the .quad file created with the QTR curve creation algorithm. From that comment, it wouldn't be unreasonable for someone without more knowledge of how QTR works to think that QTR could partition inks in a Canon or HP printer.
I agree that "Profile" might be very well be a bad choice of word for the QTR Ink Descriptor File, but those files ARE located within the "profiles" folder in the QuadToneRip download. The best we can do is differentiate them from ICC Profiles by referring to them as "QTR Profiles" (or .QIDF files, which could still end up causing confusion with the whole mac/pc thing).
The "which platform is better?" argument: For New Users, both platforms are just fine for basic printing through QTR. Aside from the profile/curve creation tools, they function similarly as far as defining what curves to print with and how they can be blended. In the context of creating custom QTR Profiles and QTR Curves, the QTRgui might seem easier to use, but there are places where the labels for some inputs don't accurately indicate what should be entered. The "density" label for the GRAY_VALUE setting is the most glaring example and the first to come to mind; the linearization module is a close second. This might be seen as just a case of bad UX design, but it is something that causes confusion and the need for additional documentation. Deeper down there are some things that are possible on the Mac that simply are not possible with the Windows QTRgui, just as there are some features in the Windows QTRgui that are nicer than working with text files on the Mac. My personal view is that once you get comfortable working with a text file and the simple install script the QTR Profile/Curve creation process on a Mac can be much easier/faster and more powerful than the windows counterpart. Being easier to look at doesn't hurt either...
