[ubuntu-in] Ubuntu on Apple Mac's

[Linux Lingam]

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 1:59 AM, Ramnarayan. K <ramnarayan.k at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> Am interested in user experiences of Ubuntu (and other Linux OS) on
> Apple Macs-particularly MAC books - both the positives and negatives.
>
> also interested in why one should / should not buy a a macbook and run
> gnu/linux on it,
>
> ram
>

you raise some interesting questions, quite a few i've been pondering over.
given that gnulinux runs comfortably on macbooks, should i buy one for myself?

a) apple has some licenses which are approved by fsf, even though not
everything from apple is copyleft.

b) apple is supportive of the foss community, the foss community tends
to be supportive of apple. yet apple is also a very smart company,
plucking the fruits of some foss endeavours for its own good, like the
'apple shake' video-compositing software, and more recently, CUPS, the
unix printing  system.

c) apple has pushed the ugly, greedy, vicious music-industry, kicking
and screaming, to online music as a service, and even pushed it to
consider selling music without DRM. however, and that is a capital
HOWEVER:

d) apple severely punishes its own customers, should they attempt to
hack their legally-owned iPods, to the extent of even bricking their
devices, or legally threatens anyone who tries to offer a muft and
mukt version of their iTunes software. google for 'fairplay'.

e) getting the latest generations of apple ipod to work under gnulinux
is not so much a technical issue, as apple's extreme reluctance to
work with the FOSS community and allow fair enduser rights for all
customers.

e) apple is even more harsh and vengeful with customers who wish to
hack and customize their iPhones. web-search for 'brick iPhones'.

f) iPhones, as with ipods, are tied-in with online services. unlike
with an ipod, that you could legally use without purchasing any music
from apple, an iphone ties you in with contracts from companies apple
has tied-in with in turn. why is the iphone locked in the first place?

so, in purchasing a macbook, do i wish to convey my support with
dollars, to a company whose business practices are at times quite
anti-customer?

nevertheless, i do have a few points on why i feel compelled to
purchase a macbook running ubuntu, ubuntustudio, and debian, for
myself.


regards
niyam
-- 
niyam bhushan