Linux drove me to get a Mac

CLIFFORD ILKAY clifford_ilkay-biY6FKoJMRdBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org
Sat Jan 10 19:29:13 UTC 2009


Kamran Khan wrote:
> 
> On 9-Jan-09, at 8:28 PM, Jamon Camisso wrote:
> 
>> Kamran Khan wrote:
>>> Well the Open Source Community lives in one Universe the rest of the
>>> world lives in another.
>>
>> Last time I checked, half the websites on the web use apache, and I'm
>> sure almost every email you send passes through a mailserver running
>> Linux somewhere along the line. Quite an intrusion of one universe
>> into another.
> 
> You missed the point.  I am talking about the model the Open Source
> Community wants the world to adhere to.

Part of the free software/open source, let's just call it FOSS, ethos is
that there is no need to compel anyone to do anything. We only offer
carrots, no sticks. Openness and avoidance of lock-in are the driving
principles. Why does this threaten you?

> I don't want to go with this
> endless banter with these silly counter points.

The only one who seems to be engaging in "silly counter points" is you.
So far, all I've seen is troll-like behaviour on your part with lots of
buzzwords and nonsense thrown around in a futile attempt to sound
authoritative.

> The only thing I found
> interesting is that you would go and ask a chef for a valuable recipe
> for free.

What is wrong with that? Most chefs would be honoured to be asked and
they can always refuse if they're silly enough to think that sharing
their recipe will undermine their interests.

> What kind of man doesn't even want to pay someone for his work.

Who said that people shouldn't be paid for their work? Chefs don't get
paid for recipes. They get paid to provide dining experiences. Besides,
this is a poor analogy. There is no "vendor lock-in" with food, unless
we're talking about genetically-engineered seeds but that wasn't the
analogy.

Apple and Microsoft are engaged in mortal combat to *own* you. They will
do anything to lock out competitors in order to achieve monopoly status
and if there is even a pretense of being open, it is only because of the
people whom you deride.

Now that you've asked, "What kind of man doesn't even want to pay
someone for his work?", I trust that means you think the people who
write free software, like KDE's Webkit, Kerberos, OpenLDAP, PostgreSQL,
Postfix, Apache, and the BSD toolchain, should all be paid for their
efforts. When will you be cutting cheques to all those projects seeing
as your shiny new toy, OS X, depends on all of the preceding?

> You people are scary.

Shame on you! You really ought to know better than this. Do you have any
idea how many people are subscribed to this list? How many of the people
on this list whom you're so cavalierly insulting have you ever met
face-to-face? I've met more than a few and can't recall any that could
be characterized as "scary".

You're the one who keeps saying, "It's just an operating system." so if
you can make idiotic generalizations about large groups of people over
something that you argue borders on inconsequential, you should be able
to understand how people can make sweeping and wrong generalizations
about people of your ancestry, for example. I'll bet you don't like it
when people do that. Why would you engage in the same behaviour that you
would understandably condemn in others? I think you really ought to
examine yourself critically to understand your hostility towards this group.

> If you want to be zealots of Linux by all
> means huddle at the Linux Caffe, I'll gladly spend my money at the Apple
> Store.

"Let them eat cake at the Linuxcaffe! I'll spend my money on shiny Apple
baubles."

> It is just operating systems to most people.  You really don't
> know what you are talking about when it comes to virtualization, Novell,
> cloud computing, IBM etc.

I know Jamon. Rest assured he knows, as I do, what virtualization is
because our respective companies use virtualization extensively. It is
quite foolish to make these statements without knowing anything about
the people whom you're attacking and I'm not even sure what point you
were trying to make when you threw in "virtualization, Novell, cloud
computing, IBM etc."

> The reason I say I do because I spent months
> with both of them and I have an excellent idea of what they intend with
> all of the technologies including Linux.

OK, so you "spent months  with both of them" and read some
buzzword-laden articles. Good for you. What have you done with it, other
than fulminate here? And both of what? You enumerated four things with
an "etc." thrown in for good measure. It's just an incoherent rant.

> Furthermore I generally find
> that I have little use for the banter on the LUG and in retrospect I
> should have not posted anything that you Linux zealots find contrary to
> your cause.

I guess burning bridges here is your way of making sure you're committed
to OS X. I just did a cursory search of my TLUG mailbox to skim what
you've posted and noticed that you've received a bit of help from the
very people whom you're now insulting. Ingrate. As Mark Twain famously
said, "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to
open it and remove all doubt."

> Sit in your Linux corner, let the Microsoft people sit in
> theirs, let the Apple people in theirs.  I'll continue to bounce to
> better and better platforms.

All this sounds like buyer's remorse to me. By being, as a Turkish
saying goes, "a bigger supporter of the king than the king", you're
rationalizing the purchase of your Mac. Enjoy your Mac but please
remember to send in those cheques to the various projects upon which OS
X was built.
-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis
1419-3266 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
Canada  M4N 3P6

<http://dinamis.com>
+1 416-410-3326
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