http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/ the craft of software development, free/open source software advocacy, and the rest of life Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:39:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-1015 yep, that’s me - barry at alltc.com » Mark Pilgrim switches back to Linux from Mac OS X as well Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:05:49 +0000 http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/#comment-1015 [...] Blog commenter James pointed out to me that the esteemed Mark Pilgrim has recently moved back to Linux for his desktop OS as well. Since Mark’s blog post doesn’t have to be conformed to fit conventions of a major technical publishing site, the style is more conversational. His take on the faux openness of the Mac platform is insightful. My favorite two paragraphs from the entry are the following: I would like to point out that it is entirely Apple’s choice that their operating system does not run on my new Lenovo ThinkCentre. I’m not saying it was a bad business decision — they are a hardware company, after all — but it is particularly galling to realize that if I bought a new Mac, I would be subsidizing the development of an operating system that contains code whose sole purpose is to lock me into a specific hardware platform. I realize that most people don’t look at it that way, but there it is. In many ways, the tale of my switch is more of the same old story. Mac OS X was “free enough” to keep me using something that was not in my long-term best interest. But as I stood in the Apple store last weekend and drooled over the beautiful, beautiful hardware, all I could think was how much work it would take to twiddle with the default settings, install third-party software, and hide all the commercial tie-ins so I could pretend I was in control of my own computer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to my eye Apple isn’t beautiful anymore. I’ve worked around it or ignored it for a long time, but eventually the bough breaks. [...] [...] Blog commenter James pointed out to me that the esteemed Mark Pilgrim has recently moved back to Linux for his desktop OS as well. Since Mark’s blog post doesn’t have to be conformed to fit conventions of a major technical publishing site, the style is more conversational. His take on the faux openness of the Mac platform is insightful. My favorite two paragraphs from the entry are the following: I would like to point out that it is entirely Apple’s choice that their operating system does not run on my new Lenovo ThinkCentre. I’m not saying it was a bad business decision — they are a hardware company, after all — but it is particularly galling to realize that if I bought a new Mac, I would be subsidizing the development of an operating system that contains code whose sole purpose is to lock me into a specific hardware platform. I realize that most people don’t look at it that way, but there it is. In many ways, the tale of my switch is more of the same old story. Mac OS X was “free enough” to keep me using something that was not in my long-term best interest. But as I stood in the Apple store last weekend and drooled over the beautiful, beautiful hardware, all I could think was how much work it would take to twiddle with the default settings, install third-party software, and hide all the commercial tie-ins so I could pretend I was in control of my own computer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to my eye Apple isn’t beautiful anymore. I’ve worked around it or ignored it for a long time, but eventually the bough breaks. [...]

]]> http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-1013 Barry Hawkins Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:25:06 +0000 http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/#comment-1013 Thanks, I didn't realize Mark had switched back as well. I really like his <a href="http://diveintopython.org/" rel="nofollow">Dive Into Python</a> book. Thanks, I didn’t realize Mark had switched back as well. I really like his Dive Into Python book.

]]> http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-1012 James Sat, 10 Jun 2006 07:51:36 +0000 http://www.yepthatsme.com/2006/06/09/chromatic-writes-on-switching-back-to-desktop-linux-from-mac-os-x/#comment-1012 See also Mark Pilgrim, http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks See also Mark Pilgrim, http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks

]]>