“A couple of weeks ago I found time to install Dapper Drake, the latest Ubuntu Linux release. In the same week my wife bought a brand new MacBook. The inevitable comparison got me thinking about what makes an otherwise good operating system great,” Alastair Otter writes for TECTONIC.
“I am extremely happy with Dapper. It is noticeably quicker in many tasks and has a number of enhancements that significantly elevate the day-to-day experience. Mac OS X Tiger on the other hand is every bit as good looking, fast and extremely well rounded and without a doubt the simplest OS to use,” Otter writes. “Is it better than Ubuntu? In many ways the two are on a par (sorry Windows – you don’t even feature) but Mac OS X does have something that Ubuntu does not (yet) have: a sense of attention to detail.”
“Whose fault it is doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, though. When a brand new Linux user is frustrated by not being able to set up an Internet connection he doesn’t care that the Gnome people should have worked this out, he just blames Ubuntu and probably all of Linux,” Otter writes. “This is where Mac OS X has the upper hand, for now. The Mac developers could also have decided to just leave the network tools incomplete and expect users to read up online how to use the command line to start and stop their connections. That would go down like a ton of bricks, I bet.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Linux dream springs eternal. He’s right about the attention to detail, but Mac OS X already offers all that Linux hopes and dreams of offering to desktop/notebook personal computer users and more (iTunes, Office, and about 15,000+ etceteras). Why some of our Linux brethren still can’t or won’t admit to themselves the obvious conclusion that Mac OS X is the best choice for the vast majority of personal computer users is beyond us. Yes, Mac OS X isn’t free, but, as usual, you get what you pay for – US$129 for Mac OS X Tiger is the best software bargain you’ll ever find. Imagine how much faster we’d get to where we all want to go if the Linux proponents jumped aboard and helped us Mac users shovel fuel into the Mac OS X locomotive? There’s no need to build several of your own trains from spare parts when our shiny new bullet train is ready and waiting for you.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
How to triple-boot Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows XP on an Apple Mac – June 21, 2006
Linux advocate calls for Apple to destroy Microsoft by selling Mac OS X for all PCs – November 20, 2005
University of Melbourne’s Trinity college replaces Linux penguins with Apple Mac Tigers – May 24, 2005
Microsoft’s Longhorn mess opens window of opportunity; time for Linux users switch to Mac OS X – September 02, 2004
Mercury News columnist: ‘best way for average person to run Unix is Mac OS X’ not Linux – April 04, 2004
Linux Magazine: ‘Linux interfaces pale besides the glory that is Mac OS X’s Aqua’ – March 08, 2004
Unix/Linux guru Simon Cozen defects to Mac OS X – September 21, 2002
noodlemac: Gregg’s thoughts of $159 OS X don’t play to market share at all. Every such copy of OS X sold is essentially an upgrade. Dropping the price to $99 or whatever wouldn’t do anything for market share, since Joe Blow can’t go buy OS X and install it on his Dull.
Linux is the domain of geeks, not average users. By this I mean that Linux fans are usually the same people that like to build their own PC from scratch, and manually configure their settings for optimal performance. While there is nothing wrong with that, most people just want to buy a computer to do a few simple tasks, and just want it to work without any problems. Even many power users don’t want to waste time configuring settings, and messing around with their system. They just want a reliable computer that gets the job done.
Mac OS X is perfect for average users and power users. It is a rock-solid OS that is incredibly efficient, and everything just works. Its UNIX underpinnings also make it a great choice for all but the most hardcore geeks. There will always be people that want to build their own machines, and OS X simply isn’t a choice for them.
Linux is best for hardcore geeks and the corporate market. Many corporations would simply rather buy a cheaper computer as they do not need all the features Macs have, they just need the computers for simple Office tasks generally.
Apple should look at Linux not as a competitor, but as a necessary choice for some users. If Apple could sew up the average user/small business category (it already is doing well with students and in the creative/professional field), and the various flavors of Linux could take over the business/hardcore geek market it would be the end of Microsoft as we know it. I already see the trend shifting this way, as many people are switching from Windows to Mac OS X. At the same time, many corporations and even government agencies are sick of relying on Microsoft and their proprietary standards, and are switching to open-source alternatives.
Hopefully both Apple and the Linux group can do what they need to do, the window of opportunity is open. [/rant]
I don’t get why most Linux variants copy the Windoze look-and-feel rather than the Mac one.
I’m a Dapper user and I love it. Only trouble is media formats, advanced video cards, wireless internet, etc. None of it is the fault of Linux-based systems, it’s due to Windows drivers not being under an open-source license. They sell hardware, not software, why aren’t drivers open-source? The media format issue is due to software patents, which should be outlawed. After a little bit of setup, it’s pretty awesome.
Overall, I’d say it’s better than OSX in some ways due to being able to be installed on any PC and having both a white-box motherboard where I can change/upgrade hardware at anytime, and I also know that the operating system is open-source, which makes it a lot more trustworthy.
I don’t even talk about Ubuntu to people though, I suggest Macs because they’re more simpler and not for geeks like me. Might get a Macbook Intel Core 2 Duo with Leopard next year if what I see in screenshots impresses me. I pretty much hated Macs before Tiger, and the Mini plus Intel switch got my attention.
It’s pretty obvious why some drivers aren’t open source: because there’s extremely valuable intellectual property in some drivers. Video card manufacturers, for example, are in an arms race to optimise the speed of their cards, and there’s no doubt that they will do anything they can to extract a little extra speed, or copy the competitor’s method for linking multiple GPUs together, etc.
Well since (most) of us Mac users are having a relaxing Saturday morning and are generally feeling good, allow me to add more ‘goodness’ with this news story from the BBC:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/5157574.stm>
I hope that works as I’m just not that much of a geek to fix it! So the story is entitled: Graphics Cards open new Windows so you all should be able to find it by searching on the BBC website.
Hmmm….okay then just copy and paste the addy into a new tab in your favorite browser.
Peace.
Ubuntu Linux rocks… I just ordered 10 new CDs (1 for myself and give others to friends). The Ubuntu team also does a good job of paying attention to detail in many respects as compared to most other distro teams. I’m personally rooting for Novell and its desktop Linux initiative to put the squeeze play on Microsoft and its Windows monopoly
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Hope someone gets back to this thread to check this out – let me know.
When I have said that I want virtual desktops for OS X THIS<b> is how I would ideally like it to look/be :
<u>(screen shots taken from Kororaa.org – a Linux site. This is showing off Xgl. You can get the same with Open SUSE)</u>
Screen shot 1: http://www.tuxmachines.org/gallery/korxgl2/hdxglcube
Screen Shot 2: http://www.tuxmachines.org/gallery/korxgl2/hdxglcube1
Beyond the “cool-factor” is the <u>functionality</u>, but it sure is sweet looking. <b>I want this in OS X even if it is *just* a 4 sided cube that you can rotate to navigate to the various desktops. (You can get, I believe up to 10 sides on the Kororaa Xgl Linux version – probably depends on your g-card)
Also, for those who may have a spare PC door-stop around, check out the Kororaa Xgl Live CD. You can download it and run it “Live” from CD without ever having to install a thing on your system. You can get that here (BT recommended, but not necessary):
http://kororaa.org/static.php?page=static060318-181203
<u>MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS</u>
* Minimum recommended configuration is system with 384MB RAM, Pentium3 with nVidia Geforce video card.
This livecd requires a CPU with SSE instruction support, and >256Mb RAM.
(i.e. P3 or later, if Celeron then need coppermine core. AMD users probably need Athlon XP CPUs, but run “cat /proc/cpuinfo |grep sse” to check anyway).
^^^ Sorry about the formatting. Miss one “/” and the rest of your post is screwed!! Damn!
MDN: There’s no need to build several of your own trains from spare parts when our shiny new bullet train is ready and waiting for you.
Is it just me, or does this sound a lot like the philosophy Microsoft uses (that is, f*** competition, let’s just consolidate under one OS).
MW: Two, as in, more than one OS is good for making OSs better…. Well, you know, making not MS OSs better…
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