Linux drove me to get a Mac

[Giles Orr]

2009/1/8 Kamran Khan <linuxdarkstar-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>:
>
> On 6-Jan-09, at 3:54 PM, John McGregor wrote:
>
>> Kamran Khan wrote:
>>>
>>> After 7 years of Linux being my primary desktop operating system at
>>> home(I tinkered with Linux since the Walnut Creek days) I jumped to a
>>> MacBook with Leopard.  OS X is basically BSD UNIX with nice candy on
>>> top so you all the command tools that I came to love in UNIX and Linux
>>> are pretty much available.  OS X has better support for hardware,
>>> especially gadgets like cell phones and cameras.  Not as much as
>>> Windows but more then Linux and major vendors like Nokia release their
>>> software natively for OS X.  OS X has better support for games, some
>>> of the big games are native on OS X and of course there is Wine and
>>> Cedega.  OS X has much better integration between its applications
>>> like iCal and mail.app.  Lastly, overall OS X is more "polished" then
>>> Linux.  Linux as server operating system is excellent but when you
>>> move closer and closer to end user applications you see a lack of
>>> refinement, lack of polish, sometimes a lot of instability and very
>>> poor integration.  The fasciation of getting things to work with Linux
>>> has long since passed and when I buy a printer I pretty much just want
>>> to plug it in.  You pay a big premium for what is essentially PC
>>> hardware but so far it has proven to be the best desktop os I can
>>> find.  So long Linux, see you on embedded devices everywhere.
>>
>> Ultimately platform choice is about getting your own work done. Your
>> message indicates that you have discovered that Apple provides a more
>> efficient / productive platform for you. That's a good thing. There is,
>> however, an undercurrent in your post that seems to state that the rest
>> of us on this list don't get it. We do. Linux is our platform of choice.
>> It empowers us to get our work done.
>>
> Sadly you don't get it.  It would seem that many of your cohorts on the list
> do not either.  For example the solution to print on Linux(Desktop) is to
> buy a postscript printer.  The solution to allow me to sync my SE Smart
> Phone with applications running on the Linux Desktop is?  Yes I know, buy
> hardware that works with Linux.  Like I said you don't get it.  I fail to
> see how your operating system empowers you when clearly you are a slave to
> it.

We all give up something for our choice of operating systems.  You
paid a fortune for your hardware, and you'll continue to do so - and
in fact pay more for your hardware than I will for my Linux-compatible
hardware.  You'll find yours more easily, and it will "just work,"
whereas mine may not.  But you may only be able to buy from one
vendor, and the price will reflect that.  You're as much a slave to
yours as we are to ours: your reasons work for you, ours work for us.

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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