Unity ROCKS not!!!

[Liam Proven]

On 10 May 2011 06:58, Doug <dmcgarrett at optonline.net> wrote:
> On 05/10/2011 01:06 AM, Ernest Doub wrote:
>
> /snip/
>>>
>>> But then, there's a whole bunch of stuff Mac OS X doesn't do that
>>> Windows does, any yet, it's an entirely usable OS.
>>
>> /snip/
>
> I've seen a number of more-or-less appreciative comments here relative
> to the Mac gui, and apparently Ubuntu is aiming in that direction.  It
> should be remembered that the Mac is aimed at a specific audience,
> which it admittedly serves very well:  that is the writing and publishing
> industry, with its corollaries layout and print design.  I am not a Mac
> user, so there may be other things that it does fairly well, but I don't
> ever remember hearing of any scientific applications designed for it.
> Where is the AutoCad, the Pro-E, the Agilent EEsof, etc.?  I suppose it must
> have a spreadsheet--it has the Microsoft Office suite--but that's almost
> a second thought.  And have you ever heard of anyone seriously writing
> code on a Mac?  Or using one as a digital controller?  Or a server? Sure,
> Linux
> has to catch up with some of these types of things, but it has not painted
> itself into a corner, like Mac seems to have. If the Mac were anywhere near
> as versatile as Windows, it wouldn't be sitting with only 10% or so of the
> market.  So why is Ubuntu trying so hard to emulate Mac? Huh?

Well, there are several points here.

Firstly, Apple is doing /very/ well these days, and is popular in all
sorts of sectors, not just print/repro/graphic design. The only place
it is not yet achieving a lot of traction is big-enterprise corporate
networking.

So the GUI is /not/ designed solely to be easy for those users. It's
designed to be easy, period.

Why copy it instead of Windows?

Well:

[1] because it is a successful model, with most of its customers
coming across from Windows and not being fazed by the the new system &
indeed becoming fans of it, and
[2] because Apple isn't threatening to sue anyone, and probably won't, because:
[a] much of its OS is based on FOSS code anyway
[b] Mac OS X is based on NeXTstep anyway, not classic MacOS, and
NeXTstep had already been widely licensed (e.g. to Sun and IBM) and
copied (e.g. by WindowMaker and GNUstep) and Apple has been fine to
let these continue for years now.

Yes, Mac OS X is widely used by coders, engineers, scientists,
designers, and other hardcore tecnical users. They like it, as someone
else has already observed, because it's Unix. Real actual licensed
Unix(TM).

And yes, Macs are widely used as servers, partly because Mac OS X
Server is very easy, partly because it's cheap - the single standard
basic edition comes with unlimited user licences. Again, because it is
actually mostly based on FOSS code.

So you're basing your arguments on misunderstandings, I'm afraid.



-- 
Liam Proven • Info & profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven
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