Mac OS X v. Linux (Was: Re: Ubuntu Boot Up Logo)

[Eric Dunbar]

Can we please move this and related threads to sounder. An off-topic
list would be a more appropriate place for this type of discussion,
would it not?

On 6/23/05, Jack Jackson <jackson.linux at gmail.com> wrote:
> During the month and a half I played with a brand new G4 powerbook
> recently was that thingy it does where it enlarges the icons on their
> whatever-they-call-that-thing-which-looks-like-but-is-not-a-taskbar when
> you mouseover - my wife and father loved that because they don't like to
> spend much time on the computer and forget what the little icons mean;
> seeing them blow up as you mouse over was useful. And cool lookin.

Dock. The blow up is somewhat useful but it's still no task bar for
easily seeing the *name* of your app. Taskbars suck. The Dock sucks.
It's just that the Dock sucks that teeny little less than task bars
;-).

> OTHER THAN THAT, I found my Mac experience was pretty gosh darn awful,
> but that is because a) I'm used to free software (and even with fink and
> other Linux - on- mac software, it was kludgy at best in my humble
> opinion), b) I had awful trouble saving text files as PLAIN text in
> several different editors when I did PHP editing. And c) I guess I just
> like Linux better, and ubuntu linux in particular.

It seems like your "gosh darn awful" experience was due to your
inexperience with Mac and not due to Mac itself. Consider how many
*years* of experience you have on Windows/Linux and contrast that to
one month on Mac! Plus, there's a whole smorgasbord of tools available
for Mac. Bare Bones Software makes a WONDERFUL text editor called Text
Wrangler that is free (as in beer)
(<http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/index.shtml>).
NOTHING, and I mean, NOTHING that I have seen that is "Free" (as in
GNU) comes even close to Text Wrangler for high powered text
editing/processing (NOT word processing). In-built grep and a tonne of
other (fairly) useful features.

Plus, Free (GNU, etc.) software is widely available for Mac, and,
besides, do you actually TAKE ADVANTAGE of the Freeness of the
software — do you change the code and recompile the software? Or, is
your use of Free software merely as a tool?

PS Text Edit is a slight misnomer under OS X since it defaults to
saving files in .RTF, but, to be blunt, *most* users have more use for
a simple text editor with some rudimentary font control than a
plain-Jane text editor. Yes, they could make it easier to save a
text-only file (and I'd encourage them to do so... but, all it takes
is for you to change a Preferences preference setting under the app's
"application" menu).


> and point out at the risk of starting a flame war that Windows too is a
> fine operating system which brought computing power to millions who just

[rant]I get tired and bored when I see people slamming Windows blindly
or spouting the gospel of Linux equally as blindly. Windows has its
problems, but it's also a pretty well executed OS. You can install it
on pretty much any old PC and expect it to work. For some of the more
obscure hardware you'll have to visit the manufacturer's website and
get the driver(s) to support things like audio, modems and advanced
video features, but that's still better than what happens in Linux if
your hardware isn't supported. Linux is useful BUT IT'S NOT THE BE-ALL
AND END-ALL OF COMPUTING, especially when it comes to satisfying the
needs of the majority of users.[/rant].

> Just my two cents.

Wow, you don't value your thoughts highly ;-) (given inflation ;-P.

I'll throw in my two dollars worth.