Re: I really prefer Linux over everything else

["Jarod Wilson" <user=74@nabble.blu.org>]

 On Jan 21, 2008, at 01:51, Martin Owens wrote: 

> It may well be a nice, smooth and well designed system at the moment 
> but there is a darker side the Apple operating system, lets prey it 
> never devours more than 20% of the desktop market because the 
> restrictions, the cost and the lock downs are worse than any other 
> platform. 

True, they do have some significant lock-in, given that they both   
write the OS and sell the hardware, but they *do* have at least a   
large chunk of their kernel available for all to see, and plenty have   
seen it and done interesting things with it, like let you install and   
run Mac OS X on a wide variety of non-Apple hardware (I have a core 2   
quad system dual-booting Mac OS X and Fedora, works great under both   
operating systems. Also have OS X on my ThinkPad, though it doesn't   
run as well there yet due to driver issues). Of course it'll never be   
supported by Apple and you're on your own when things go wrong, but   
that situation doesn't strike me as all that much different from   
running a Linux distribution like say CentOS or Gentoo. There are very   
active and highly technical user communities to help out when you run   
into problems. 

Personally, I don't find Apple's costs to be all that excessive   
either. Sure, you can't buy a $350 laptop from them, but if you spec   
out the entry-level macbook with a comparable laptop from another   
respectable manufacturer, the gap isn't that huge. And I seem to   
recall AOpen's Mac Mini clone costing far more than a Mini, even with   
just a Celeron processor in it. I suppose on the "Pro" end of the Mac   
lineup, the cost gap does start to increase though, and you're not   
allowed as much variance in configuration options as some other   
vendors (the ability to choose Intel graphics instead of nVidia on my   
ThinkPad was a major reason I went with my T61). 


> I dislike the Mac OS X system so much I gave my 17" Powerbook away, 

Damn, I'd have been happy to take that off your hands... :) 

Although, rather than give it away, why didn't you just install Linux   
on it? Linux runs quite well on my 15" PowerBook these days. 

> it's just too much hassle, not enough of it just works for me and it 
> put way too many cost barriers in my face, I felt like I was paying 
> lots of money for every single ity application. There is not freedom 
> of speech in Apple, only corporate goals. Your welcome to your 
> stalinised fancy desktop with nice locked down integrated apps because 
> one day it'll bite you in the behind in unexpected ways. Although I 
> think you know that already. 

Yep,  I don't use OS X with Mac Zealot Blinders on, I know exactly   
what it is I'm getting myself into. I stick to Linux on the server   
side, my Mac Mini mythtv frontend runs Linux 99% of the time, all my   
other Macs dual-boot Linux as well, and I quite happily use a Linux   
desktop the better part of 40+ hours per week at work, but I still   
enjoy using Mac OS X. 

>> Now, I could be way off base, but to me, it kinda sounds like   
>> you're putting 
>> down Mac OS X without actually having a whole lot of meaningful   
>> experience 
>> using it, only brief encounters where you went into it with   
>> preconceived 
>> notions that it was inferior. I base this assumption on your belief   
>> that the 
>> only way to launch an infrequently used application is through the   
>> Finder and 
>> inability to think of anything that works better on OS X, because   
>> just about 
>> everyone I know that has used OS X any significant amount of time   
>> has a 
>> pretty easy time pointing out things that work better under OS X   
>> than they do 
>> with Linux. 
> 
> Linux and Gnu may take longer to get functionality out there, but we 
> both know it's more powerful and far more useful when the projects are 
> stabilised. The key problem for Linux is not it's usability, it's just 
> integration, boring integration tasks.