“Even if Longhorn ships in mid-2006, it will be mid-2007 before we see it in real quantity, late-2008 before it has a significant installed base, and perhaps 2011 before XP finally fades away. That’s if Microsoft hits its marks from here on and customers actually want what Longhorn manages to deliver. Now factor in time for WinFS and the confusion when XP starts getting some Longhorn features, and it looks like the fun just won’t be stopping,” David Coursey writes for eWeek.
“Longhorn’s woes may open a door for Linux, a very tiny door, but Linux just isn’t a good choice for desktops. Instead, desktop Linux proponents should wake up and switch to the Mac OS,” Coursey writes. “People who use Mac OS X and think about such things consider it to be ‘Linux done right.’ Of course, it’s Unix, not Linux, but that’s a minor point. As Linux fragments, as it must, the distinction will become even more academic that it is already.”
Coursey writes, “Mac OS X has a better user interface than Windows, better security and is more stable. It’s all the operating system most users need. It doesn’t have the application support Windows enjoys, but there are many more excellent commercial OS X apps than there are Linux apps. If the desktop Linux people really cared about using a great operating system, they would stop trying to reinvent the wheel and rally around Mac OS X. It would be great if the contest were between two worthy operating systems, like Mac and XP/Longhorn. But Linux vs. Longhorn? You’ve got to be kidding.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mac OS X vs. Windows XP is not much of a contest today, as users of both understand. Mac OS X vs. ‘Longhorn’ is not a contest at all since Mac OS X is the only contender that actually exists, it wins by default. Even if the stripped-down, feature-shedding ‘Shorthorn’ debuted today, Mac OS X ‘Panther’ would wipe the floor with it. Microsoft has always followed Apple’s Mac with their me-too Windows OS and they’re falling behind more and more with their never-ending Longhorn fiasco. It is time for our Linux cousins to join forces with us and adopt quality hardware complete with advanced 64-bit G5s and Mac OS X. Mac OS X is everything (except totally free) that Linux wants to be, but will never achieve. With Mac OS X powered by passionate Mac users and former Linux users, Microsoft would feel some serious pressure. You have to wonder if the bloated Microsoft behemoth would even be able to make a timely and coherent move to defend its ill-gotten, monopoly-abused Windows turf.
I used Linux for over 10 years — still do at work. But I use MacOSX at home since February. Two things made me switch:
(1) Tired of Linux’s inadequate support for hardware drivers everytime I upgraded.
(2) I had the money in hand.
It’s not that Macs cost too much, it’s that you need so much money up front, while Linux users tend to buy their machines a few hundred bucks at a time.
BTW, I bought my G5 headless.
Apple could put Linux on the desktop out of it’s misery tomorrow with a graphical interface for Darwin and good, fast emulators for OS X and Windows XP that worked on it.
Apple probably has this very thing in a deep dark dungeon on the Apple campus.
Linux Trolls, be good or they will release this OS and put you all in the Apple camp.
Windows is about as secure as this country will be if Kerry gets elected.
The “headless” iMac is a red herring that will never exist. Why? Apple got too badly burned in the days of a-Mac-for-every-niche, so many models with tiny variations in spec you never really knew what you had. When Steve returned he canned that whole way of thinking and now the philosophy is: concentrate on what works and don’t get distracted by trying to satisfy the minutiae.
99% of people in the market for a “consumer” level machine will change their whole system at on fell swoop. Even corporate buyers tend to work in this way. Only geeks and very small “mom-and-pop” businesses cherry-pick components and upgrade progressively. Apple sells a million iMacs a year, and there are a couple of thousand squeeky wheels going on about a “headless” iMac. Apple’s answer is inevitable. After all, it worked perfectly well for Henry Ford.
Hey Walt, drop dead!
Glick7,
Just be sure to watch the “upgrade” path from Girlfriend x.0 to Wife 1.0. Many features might become permanently disabled.
If things go wrong, load the “Shopping” application. Works for me.
Nobody said a headless Mac had to have 1001 variations. They could just come out with a couple versions. After all, they decided 5 versions of a music player were acceptable…
Yeah, I sure feel secure with GWB in office. We’re better off with two more wars and thousands more terrorists angry at us. Uh huh. Didja see the Bush twins interview the other day? “…we didn’t think about the repercussions.” Yeah, they really do take after their dad…
Liberal, take a chill pill — I realize that the Apple crowd tends to be more artsy fartsy and therefore “liberal”, but you have to admit that Kerry is a complete flake. Speaking as a “independent” voter who considers himself moderate in most things political and occassionally votes both Democrat and Republican, the thought of Kerry as President is pretty scarey. Had his votes in the senate been the majority vote (luckily this was rarely the case), our country might be significantly different place and undoubtedly the Soviet Union would still exist. He’s so to the “left” that I don’t want him choosing Supreme Court Justices. Why can’t the Democrats nominate someone moderate instead of a left-wing liberal flake?
Headless…
I don’t think it’ll happen any time soon, if ever.
I think it would be a good move for Apple, but they may simply be unwilling to release a low end machine that would be compromised by a shitty looking monitor.
It’ll keep getting mentioned because people really do want it. People can really see a market for it
A “blame America first” liberal wrote:
“Yeah, I sure feel secure with GWB in office. We’re better off with two more wars and thousands more terrorists angry at us.”
—–
Yes, I too harken for the days we had under Bill Clinton, when the terrorist loved us so much that they committed numerous acts of terrorism while planning what they would do to us on 911. They loved us then, but now, under Bush, they’re mad. I’d even bet that though they loved us when Clinton was President, the only reason they planned 911 is because they somehow knew that George Bush was going to be Presdent someday.
QUESTION: What do terrorists and liberals have in common?
ANSWER: Both groups dearly hope that John Kerry is the next President of the United States.
Sleep well folks.
“Headless is OK”,
When you said that you feel more secure with GWB in office because “thousands more terrorists are angry at us”, didn’t you mean to say rather more accurately that you feel more secure with GWB in office because “thousands more terrorists are dead”?
It’s amazing hearing you Americans discuss politics. Liberal=artsy fartsy? and Kerry = Liberal?
man, you guys need to look around a bit.
Microsoft should be worried about Linux, not Mac. The developing countries of the world will not cough up the dollars for MS or Mac when a fully functional Linux desktop can be had for fraction (read: less than 10%) of the cost. Regardless of what any one individual here thinks, the majority of users need an email client, browser, office suite and a sprinkling of music, photo and drawing software and you can get that from Linux IN A VERY HIGH QUALITY for next to nothing (beyond the cost of a box). Not that that’s all Linux provides–just look at the security model and the number of Apache servers motoring the web! A key point of Linux, and the whole Open Source software scheme is to ‘free’ users from their dependency on commercial products and the companies that produce them and to collectively pool the resources of the computing world to yield the best software. So much for the soapbox – I’m thinking outside of it.
Just had a conversation with a co-worker here in my office…her husband is a Windows IT guru…hence at home, he’s got plenty of old and new computers – they have a network inside their house, etc. Here at the office we run macs – all running Panther. She was complaining that last night she tried to do something on “her” computer at home (a PC) and that it was broken. Seems all the computers had been infected and he was rebuilding them – AGAIN. Seems it happens all the time. She bemoaned that she can never use her computer at home because it’s always got something wrong with it. And her husband is a Windows IT guy remember. I then asked her the last time she had a problem here at the office – she quickly quipped never. The machines just run. And that’s the funny thing. Mac OS X computers just run. They don’t catche spyware or viruses. And you don’t need a dedicated IT guy (or husband) to constantly rebuild systems.
PC users just don’t get it. Those that do try Mac – never go back.
Australian said:
“It’s amazing hearing you Americans discuss politics. Liberal=artsy fartsy? and Kerry = Liberal?
man, you guys need to look around a bit.”
**********
Yes. Maybe one day we Americans will be as smart as everyone else in the world. Then, maybe our technological advances, our economic engine, our advances in medicine, and our military power will catch up with the rest of the world as well. Until then, I guess we’ll just have to settle for being stupid Americans.
On the other hand, you may just be selectively quoting a few people and conveniently asserting that they somehow are typical for what passes as politcal argumenatation here in the states. I bet Aussies are never guilty of glib statements.
Some liberal wrote: “Didja see the Bush twins interview the other day? “…we didn’t think about the repercussions.” Yeah, they really do take after their dad…”
______________________________
Hey, now that’s a good point. I mean, whoever heard of 21 year old college girls saying something ditzy.
What incredible insight these liberals have. Take a pentagram out of petty cash. Go ahead. You deserve it.
I do not understand this headless Mac concept. People who can pay $599 for a piece of crap Dell computer can afford a $799 eMac. They are just cheap scapes and want to feel like they got the best deal possible. What will they do with this headless Mac. Buy a cheapo monitor that is not nearly as good as the one included with the eMac. Maybe they will use a cheapo monitor that they already have from their old Intel system. For Apple to make money at they low end, they have to sell you the monitor too. You simply cannot beat the value of an eMac for the desktop at the low end. For a laptop, the ibook is a bargain. But a headless Mac for the low end? Someone justify this for me, please. I do not get it.
QUESTION: What do terrorists and liberals have in common?
ANSWER: Both groups dearly hope that John Kerry is the next President of the United States
_____
Uhm, Bush is the one keeping them well fed..
Mike wrote:
“Uhm, Bush is the one keeping them well fed.”
__________
Uhm, what the hell are ou talking about? Uhm…
Folks, stop comparing an eMac to a Pentium 4 equipped Dell. I’m a Mac user but come on. The eMac can’t compare to a Pentium 4 for performance at all. If they put a G5 in the eMac then yeah, start the comparisons.
And yes, I believe Apple needs a headless consumer model. Some people don’t want the built-in monitor. They may already have a monitor. See in the PC world, you can buy that $500 computer and then buy a $250 video card for it down the road.
What I can’t understand is why Apple insists on including a monitor but then puts such a crappy and outdated video card in their computers. I love the new iMac but a nvidia 5200? Please.
Come on Apple, make a pizza box or cube with a video card that can be replaced by the user.
Finally, I cannot keep out of this.
Reggie: I agree with you. Kerry’s no more a liberal than GWB a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. He has no ideology whatsoever from what I have heard him saying publicly. There are people saying that anyone would be better than Little Bush, and they may have a point. But in my view, Kerry still has to define himself as a credible alternative on most important issues.
BTW: why is “liberal” always used as a derogatory word? Liberal means seeking individual freedom and rights. The opposite of liberal is oppressive. Look at your constitution, folks! The people who founded the US of A had a decidedly liberal attitude.
Just my two cents from across the pool.
I think a headless Mac would be a good idea. Even if it was just a G4 in a plain white box it would give users a chance to try out a Mac for 500 dollars (or even 600 dollars). Once you get them hooked they will be looking for a higher end unit pretty quickly and the market share gained would incent more company’s to produce even more software for the Mac.
hagar57,
You’re talking about one of many dictionary definitions of the word “liberal”. Like it or not, it has a different modern usage and talks about an entirely different kind of person that believes some very specific things and tries to implement those things in some very specific ways.
Modern day liberals are weak-kneed, limp-wristed pacifists. They are tax raisers, bleeding hearts, hyper-regulating socialists, they enable and even advocate infanticide, and they believe in the redistribution of income. When they don’t get their way at the ballot box ( which is very often) they try and often succeed to subvert the democratic will of the people through a judicial activist court friendly to their position.
I hope that answers your question of why the word “liberal” is used pejoratively.
As for John Kerry: Yes, he is a liberal, and a quite severe one at that. This is common knowledge, and if you’re not engaged enough to know this very simple fact, then perhaps you should be.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because Kerry is going down big time, and he’s going to lose big time. It’s fun to watch liberals implode over it.
Life is good.
It doesn’t even need to be headless.
How difficult is it REALLY to make the vid-card upgradable?
They’re using an aftermarket nvideo card… so why not add versatility… to extend the life of the machine… unless they don’t want it to be extended.
That card won’t run apps very well a few years from now.
make it entry level… and upgradeable
hagar57 wrote:
“Kerry’s no more a liberal than GWB a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize”
_____
Yassar Arafat, head of the PLO which is, and has been for decades, a terrorist organization, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Jimmy Carter, self-righteous appeaser on whose shoulder’s (along with Bill Clinton’s) rests the cause and blame for the North Korean’s acquiring nukes, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Facts are a very tough thing for the naive among us to confront.