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journal: think
Thoughts on Open Source
I’ve been having a rather interesting discussion with someone going by the name of Penguin Pete. He wrote a rather interesting blog post last month talking about how Ubuntu is making ground because it is similar to Windows and that makes it appealing to people who are leaving Windows. This does make sense, I certainly think that Ubuntu is one of the most promising Linux distros. Pete then makes a rather true comment about how users leaving Windows are going somewhere and that that somewhere is going to be the next desktop revolution.
Now many Linux users believe that Linux is that somewhere. While I agree that Linux is making quite a lot of ground in the desktop market, and rightly so, I don’t feel that Linux is where the next desktop revolution is currently taking place. As I have previously showed, both Linux and the Mac are gaining market share in the desktop space, at the expense of Windows. In the past 2 years Linux and OS X have almost doubled in market share. The only thing that is putting the Mac ahead is that it had over 10 times the market share of Linux on the desktop 2 years ago, so doubling that is a far bigger gain that doubling Linux’s market share.
Obviously, this makes me believe that the Mac is the next desktop revolution. But why is Linux not making more ground than it is? Well the first obvious reason is one that many Linux users know about. Next to nobody ships a desktop with Linux on. Dell has announced they are going to start shipping Linux on their desktops, which is a huge boost for Linux. That alone could be worth half a percentage of market share. Now that may sound small, but as it stands, just offering Linux is not going to be enough.
One reason Apple is gaining market share is because it now has a very compelling product. With Ubuntu there is now a compelling Linux distro for the every day user. Another major reason Apple is gaining market share is that it has a huge mind share. Apple is one of the most recognisable brands in the world today. It spends millions of dollars a year on advertising and produces some of the most memorable advertising campaigns around. Linux has nothing like this. If you were to tell someone about a Mac then they’d know Apple at least from iTunes or the iPod. If you were to tell someone about Linux you aren’t sure if you’ll get a good conversation or a blank stare. Now that there is the compelling product there, it needs to be advertised. It would be great to see adverts for Ubuntu on TV. Just to get the word out to everyone that there is another choice out there if you don’t want Windows other than the Mac.
Now comes the reason for Apple’s success that ended up setting Penguin Pete and I at odds: Commercial Software. I believe that Linux cannot gain serious amounts of market share until it embraces closed source (whether partly or completely closed source) commercial software. Now odds are that Microsoft Office is never going to make it to Linux until Linux already has a serious amount of market share (I’m talking 5%+). However, other big software vendors have little to lose by also releasing their software for Linux. Adobe for instance, has no serious ties to either Windows or the Mac that would be damaged by a Linux version of any of their apps. Now you can tell me the merits of packages like GIMP but the fact remains that it is apps like Photoshop that rule the roost. You are going to have a far easier time embracing them than competing with them.
The other reason I believe embracing closed source commercial software would be a good thing is that it would allow indie developers to spring up on Linux. Now in a way there are indie developers and small teams on Linux developing software. The problem is that many of the apps put out by these are side projects to their day jobs. They just can’t make any money from it. Open source does not encourage small teams. Look at any open source software company out there and you’ll see that they all have 100s of employees. Look at the majority of the software companies on the Mac and they have between 1 and 25 employees.
Now you may think that this is irrelevant. Pete seemed to take this point as me not liking open source as it will endanger my job. As a Mac developer I’m pretty sure that open source will help my job, not endanger it in anyway. Hell, this week I hope to have the source for some shared components in my apps online. Why would I be open sourcing some of my code if it would damage me? By being able to make money from these apps, developers can make it into a full time job and in turn dedicate their time to their applications. This will allow the countless small projects out there on Linux to instantly become compelling products to entice users (and in turn more developers) to the platform. One of the reasons the Mac survives is that it has a huge collection of high quality software at cheap prices that in some cases can rival the big boys on other platforms e.g. OmniGraffle on the Mac vs Visio on the PC.
Now before I get ripped apart let me make one thing clear. I’m not saying give up on open source and just have closed source. I’m saying have closed source and open source together. The reason the Mac is so strong is that Apple has combined open source and closed source well. The kernel of OS X is open source, Safari’s rendering engine is open source, with Leopard the Calendar Server will be open source. Apple also embraces a lot of open source products: Apache, PHP, Ruby on Rails, etc. However, it also has its closed source software sitting on top of that. Despite what some may think, this really is a good thing.
One strong criticism of several open source projects is that they can become very bloated. One of the greatest things about open source compared to closed source is that if you want a feature in an application you can add it. However, this can become a problem. People have different ideas about what features they want, how they should work, etc. This can lead to major problems with features being added because one or two people want them, increasing the complexity of the application, and this then puts off new users.
Of course these problems can easily be overcome with strong leadership. Look at the most accessible open source applications out there, they all have a central core of people who check everything. They have the vision. Unfortunately with open source this can be hard to maintain. As your project grows you have to increase the central core in order to cope, which in turn dilutes the vision down. While major changes will still be seen, minor changes may pass undetected. One of the hardest parts of software development isn’t where you should add that major new feature or not, it’s minor things such as whether or not you should offer a checkbox for such and such a setting. And it is these minor changes that can slowly lead to bloat.
This is where closed source has a huge advantage; the vision is constant, the core’s growth is more likely to be at the pace the developer wants, not that which the development needs. The idea is to open source those components that don’t get massively effected by this bloat. Take Safari for example. A user doesn’t care if Webkit supports CSS3 or HTML5, all they see of Webkit is the web page being rendered. Safari itself, however, does matter to the user and this is the closed source part. The only people that care a huge amount about Webkit are developers/power users, which is the way it should be as these are also the only people that are able to significantly contribute to Webkit.
That isn’t to say that open source can’t rival a piece of closed source in terms of not falling into the bloat trap if it needs to. Using the Mac for another example, let’s look at Firefox. Firefox is a very good browser, fast, powerful and flexible. It also has a terrible UI on the Mac (to be fair though this is more a case of it being cross platform than being open source). Mac users demanded high quality UIs, and so Camino was born. It can do far less than Firefox but it is a far better competitor to Safari than Firefox as far as a user is concerned.
And to finish off, I’ll point out Firefox as being the shining example of open source. Firefox has completely torn down IE and made huge gains. One of the reasons for this is the HUGE amount of press coverage it has received. Linux just hasn’t had this exposure, and I believe that this is one of the keys to Linux gaining share on the desktop.
Editors note: Pilky originally published this on his personal blog on April 16th. We have republished it here with his permission. We have edited it to a minimal degree for formatting and minor changes like capitalization and punctuation.
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thinkback
Support is extremely important to someone who might not be as good with a computer as another
It’s extremely important for a Windows user who has to figure out how to get rid of the error message dealing with the Registry (download Registry Fixer).
It’s extremely important for a Windows user to learn how to “surf safely” on the Internet and to download Firefox and use that instead of IE.
Do Windows PCs come bundled with Firefox and Registry Fixer?
This whole Windows zealot argument that we should all be buying Windows PCs because we know more people who know how to fix them when they get screwed up has always been very amusing to me. It’s true, though. My neighbor bought a Dell as their first PC because their teenager’s school uses PowerPoint and they thought they needed a Windows PC for that, plus they saw the Dell ads. This was two years ago before the current Mac revolution.
So they have a Dell and lucky for them, they had me to come over and figure out why it got sooooo slow (malware) and why IE was acting so weird (malware).
So I spent a couple of hours over there cleaning the thing and downloaded Firefox and told them to use that. I gave them the same advice Liam and Funktron gave us here on this site - don’t go to “shady” sites and be careful what you install in regards to smaller 3rd party utilities and keep up to date on your virus definitions…
Of course, if they had purchased a Mac instead, I could have helped them out with that too. Things like....well...hmmmm…
informer, more and more people are not upgrading their PCs to buy Vista, but rather, are spending that money on a new Mac because of all the hassles on Windows. The fact that they know more people who can help them with those hassles is moot.
I guess the only real way of deciding which platform is the ideal choice for productivity would be to look at what businesses use
This would be you, again, arguing both sides of an argument. I’m guessing you don’t believe the reason the iPod and iTunes dominate the market is because they are the best solutions.
No, you don’t. That’s because you are a huge troll. Trolls flip flop on their arguments depending on which direction the wind is coming from.
Like I said, if you have ever seen a real media player then you would know how futile the ATV really is.
He just said it sucks! Can’t you read?
But you are being very, very ignorant if you think this is going to be determined by hardware specs. This is a game of DRM, my friend, not hardware specs. Why do you think Microsoft did a complete 180 on this issue in regards to their Zune and Xbox 360 media?
You guys used to argue that Microsoft was better because they licensed their DRM to all kinds of developers, which gave us all more choice. Developers developers developers developers! And Apple didn’t license Fairplay, so the iPod was going to fail.
Apple kicked the crap out of that idea, didn’t they? What happened? Well, Microsoft now sells a player and has a store that only that player supports...sound familiar? But Windows is the king of media. Nobody is sharing songs with Zunes because nobody is buying them, but they are the kind...because informer says so.
Of course, informer doesn’t like any player that doesn’t come from Japan anyway, so he’s not really going to defend the Zune (let’s ignore that the Zune is just a Toshiba player that already existed).
Well, there are more 3rd party software for Windows right?
And more than Linux, yet Linux doesn’t “hold a monopoly” either. You have no logic and you don’t have a clue what the word “monopoly” means.
Or iTunes
No, they aren’t forced to use iTunes either. In fact, Apple is enabling all of their Mac customers to use Windows on their Macs, so they can even use Microsoft’s software.
Can I delete the Finder in OSX and use a different one?
Yes.
And here are 10 Finder alternatives.
How many Explorer alternatives are there?
It may not necessarily make it worst as an MP3 player, but it is no doubt worst as a media player.
I’ll use your own argument you used a few lines up - let’s just see what everyone is buying to see which one is best. Hmm, that would be the iPod.
No one really cares about what Apple did, is doing or is going to do. The fact that it had a low market share for so long proves that Apple couldn’t use its monopoly-like culture to sell computers.
No one but people like you and Funktron and LordDaMan and UnDunn and Kuaidang and Rick Tempest and…
Listen, you aren’t even making sense with your logic there. The reason Apple doesn’t have Microsoft’s market share is because they don’t license their OS, which is what I assume you are (mistakingly) referring to as monopoly-like.
And you guys can’t keep your argument straight. On one day, you guys argue that Apple gets too much good press because the media is all biased against Microsoft (any Mac user who still gets chills from the word “beleaguered” finds this argument hilarious). Then we have you guys arguing that nobody cares. Which is it? Is it that nobody cares about Apple and the iPod and the iPhone or is it that everyone cares and they are all just hoodwinked by Apple’s “monopoly marketing” (LOL).
| May. 11, 2007 | ||
| 6:39 am |
I’m not denying that support is important, what I’m saying is that amount of support a platform has available is not a reflection on how easy to use that platform is.
Support is something that people can offer if they have the knowhow to do so. Getting help for PCs and Windows would be much easier than finding someone who knows something about a Mac. Even the Mac people I know do not know everything about the Mac (which is actually strange). That is all I’m saying.
Again with the monopoly?
I think you still don’t really understand what true monopoly is. Here, let me explain it to you.
I want to run OSX (not really but just using an example), oh dear I need to have a Mac for that.
I want Garageband (again not really), oh dear I need to have a Mac for that. Luckily with Windows, you have better software.
I want an iPod (again not really), oh dear I need iTunes. Again, luckily with Windows, you can connect other better media players without having to resort to software.
I’m not talking about regular software. Lets take your examples. Can you imagine buying a DVD player but then having to buy the buttons and remote?
That is what it is like for a blind or visually impaired person when they buy a PC. They buy the PC and then they have to buy software just to use the basic PC functions.
Well it seems like you still haven’t realised the difference between a Mac and a PC have you? You do realise that one is a computer that is completely branded by a company who can choose to put whatever they like on it? (there’s that magic word again ah yeah - Monopoly), the other is a freewheeling computer where people (and not just the companies) can put whatever they like on it.
Better still, people who go out to buy their own PC and install their own software come out better and cheaper than buying a Mac with the works. Again, guys still using the same software since Windows 98 haven’t change a thing because they don’t need to. Sometimes people don’t need to have everything on a computer to get things done if they already have the tools they need in the first place.
If I already have a remote and controls for either DVD player or toaster then why would I need another one?
And again you come up with the monopoly. Lets look at the Apple products in my dock. Mail, Safari, iChat, iTunes, Quicktime, Preview, TextEdit, Xcode, Interface Builder, GarageBand, Terminal, AddressBook. That’s 12 Apple products in my dock, along with 26 3rd party products. Now, if you were to look at Vista you’d see that besides the developer tools and GarageBand, MS has provide applications for all of those in the OS. And with VS Express you can even have some MS developer tool. So unless you’re going to try to claim that because Apple includes GarageBand that it’s a monopoly but because MS doesn’t include an equivalent to GarageBand it isn’t a monopoly then you have no basis for your argument.
Sorry still doesn’t make a difference. See my point above.
You really do like taking my replies out of context just so you can make a feeble argument…
Sounds like a rant. Time to skip.
Ok, I hold up my hand here, you’ve got me. I’ve never compile Linux, which as everybody knows means I can’t possibly have ever used Windows or Linux. I never really used Windows 3.1 & 95 in primary school. I was just lying when I said I used NT 4 and 2000 in secondary school. I’ve never used Windows 98SE in Virtual PC. My stories of using XP whenever I go into the computer labs here at university are completely fictional and I’m just imagining that I have Vista Business installed on my iMac. And Linux? Pft. Never did I install Ubuntu (breezy badger) onto an old PC at secondary school or an old iBook I had.
Installing stuff from CDs and or using someone else’s computer doesn’t really cut it for someone who claim to know anything about using and understanding other operating systems. I’ve driven Ferraris and Formula A karts but that doesn’t automatically make me close to being a professional of either.
People are using the Mac for gaming, does it mean the Mac is king of gaming? No.
Are people really buying Macs for gaming? Hahahaha!!!!
If you were to get 100 Windows users and 100 Mac users you’d probably end up finding that some of the Windows users are very productive but some aren’t and that some of the Mac users are very productive and some aren’t.
I find the PC a hell of a lot more productive because they let people do anything they want with it. Its about finding the right tool to do everything that you can possibly do on it (you would probably accuse doing something like this as “jack of all trade and master of none” which of course is irrelevant in this time and age).
Imagine, a computer that allows me to do anything that I could possibly have any use for in computing, gaming, movie watching (in Full HDTV no less!), internet, management of 3rd party devices, phones, pdas EVERYTHING! Such possibilities have been made available for such a long time already (which has only started for Mac users).
I find working on Windows to be very unproductive
I find this strange. Which part of the homework couldn’t you get done on a computer? I’m sure millions and millions of students out there had no problems getting things done no?
As for Windows supporting 1000s of software titles, I’m not denying that.
Windows, I believe supports a lot more than that. I’m willing to bet that its somewhere in the hundreds and thousands and maybe even millions. Think of the many software out there in other countries such as Arabia and Asia, each have their own suites of software customised just for themselves.
But what you seem to be avoiding is the fact that the Mac also has 1000s of software titles
Actually I did a test to find out what kind of software I could “download” as compared to PCs/Windows.
The Mac had 295 software (lets say 250 as many of them were the same but uploaded by different people).
Linux had over 900.
Windows had 16000.
Seriously with that many software why the hell does anyone want to go with anything else? If Windows doesn’t have it then there’s Linux which can be dual booted on the same PC.
Yes some people want a bog standard, cheap box computer. In which case they’re going to go to Dell or HP, spend their £250 and get their sempron machine with no monitor.
Maybe they’re smarter than you think. Maybe they already have a monitor and don’t need another one! Think I’ve heard this argument before, don’t really want to beat the old horse again. PCs FTW.
Again, am I denying that the Xbox is good? No. I’m just saying that no one company has got the living room entertainment market to themselves. And yes, the Xbox is more successful in western markets, but I wouldn’t say it’s the top dog
None of the gaming companies are trying to be top media playing dogs in the living room. They are after all gaming consoles first and entertainment machines later. I’m quite happy with my Blaupunkt, B&O;etc as are many people.
Maybe you are misunderstanding me. I said that the current Apple TV isn’t very good. What I said though is that the idea (small box that streams your media from all the computers in your house) is good.
I know you said that the ATV isn’t very good, I’m just trying to reinforce the point.
Again streaming isn’t very important, and if you knew anything about HDTV then the ATV isn’t up to the task because it isn’t designed for streaming large videos, but those from iTunes which are much smaller in size.
Unlike my player which streams via USB (handy) or network wired/wireless(convenient) as well as locally(best performance). Again, I’m talking very high level media streaming here, something that most people don’t really know much about.
Yes it’s over priced, yes it isn’t extremely powerful (though you are mistaken about the 640 x 480 max resolution. The max is actually 1280 x 720). If it was £50-100 cheaper and had a DVD drive though I’d be interested. Don’t get the idea and the implementation mixed up.


Its capable of higher resolution no doubt, but what are most iTune videos resolution these days again?
OK and this implication that you’re a real geek and I’m not? Lets have a little test shall we. A real geek would have used at least one other OS than their preferred one to an decent extent. I doubt that you have used the Mac, so prove me wrong:
I actually had the first iMac at work, and bought a MacPro before but no longer have either. The iMac was just incredibly limited and boring while the MacPro was simply too hot to hold. It was back in the shops within a day.
I’ve used Windows enough that I can help many people (who use Windows all the time) out with problems that they may have. Can you say the same for the Mac?
Sure. Thing is, I know so much more about the PC and getting stuff for it. Because of its consistency and Windows only just changing to Vista, its been far easier to advice people on how to use XP on PCs than it was to talk about Macs.
I’ve programmed on Windows, writing several applications in different languages. Have you ever written a line of code on a Mac?
Hell no!!! I have no interest in writing Applescript whatsoever, at least not in a language that can’t be used on any other platform.
Links please?
OpenGL in Vista worse than XP: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2007/01/30/xp -vs-vista-uk/page6.html
You said that the Mac now has the performance advantage for OpenGL games over Windows. Which one? I’m not using Vista although it is very impressive. I’m sure over time Vista would produce better results for openGL games. Right now, I think DirectX games would suffice.
if you want an MP3 player then you are going to buy an iPod.
Since when is the iPod the only MP3 player to buy? Last time I recalled, Sansa and Zune were 2 of the most prominent mp3 players with the Zune gaining quite a bit of healthy attention lately.
I guess you don’t care about the fact that the mouse, the gui, multimedia capabilities, CD drives, 3 1/4� floppies (both added and taken out), WiFi, USB etc. are popular now. Yes, Apple didn’t invent any of those, and they may not have been the first in some of them, but they were the ones who popularised those technologies.
Hahaha!!! I haven’t had this much chuckle in a long time. Seriously you haven’t really been around outside of your Appledom much have you? Next thing you will tell me is that Myst is the greatest game since Pac Man.
Support is something that people can offer if they have the knowhow to do so. Getting help for PCs and Windows would be much easier than finding someone who knows something about a Mac. Even the Mac people I know do not know everything about the Mac (which is actually strange). That is all I’m saying.Â
The thing is though, you said that the level of support Windows has is a reflection of how easy to use it is, which it isn’t. It’s a sign of more people using Windows.
I think you still don’t really understand what true monopoly is. Here, let me explain it to you.
I want to run OSX (not really but just using an example), oh dear I need to have a Mac for that.
I want Garageband (again not really), oh dear I need to have a Mac for that. Luckily with Windows, you have better software.
I want an iPod (again not really), oh dear I need iTunes. Again, luckily with Windows, you can connect other better media players without having to resort to software.
If I want to run Visual Studio I need to have Windows. If I want to run Windows Media Player I need Windows, if I want a Zune I have to use the Zune software. Your point? What market does apple have near complete control of?
Well it seems like you still haven’t realised the difference between a Mac and a PC have you? You do realise that one is a computer that is completely branded by a company who can choose to put whatever they like on it? (there’s that magic word again ah yeah - Monopoly), the other is a freewheeling computer where people (and not just the companies) can put whatever they like on it.
Better still, people who go out to buy their own PC and install their own software come out better and cheaper than buying a Mac with the works. Again, guys still using the same software since Windows 98 haven’t change a thing because they don’t need to. Sometimes people don’t need to have everything on a computer to get things done if they already have the tools they need in the first place.
If I already have a remote and controls for either DVD player or toaster then why would I need another one?
Hmm… so you’re comparing a Mac you buy in the shops compared to a PC someone has had for a few months and put their software on? Well I can do a similar comparison. Did you know that a PC is something that’s just a computer that’s loaded with software put on there by Microsoft or the hardware manufacturer while the Mac has 1000s of pieces of software and 1000s of peripherals that work with it?
Sorry still doesn’t make a difference. See my point above.
So the fact that Microsoft is no different to Apple with regards to the software included with the OS makes no difference?
Sounds like a rant. Time to skip.
Because I proved you wrong?
Installing stuff from CDs and or using someone else’s computer doesn’t really cut it for someone who claim to know anything about using and understanding other operating systems. I’ve driven Ferraris and Formula A karts but that doesn’t automatically make me close to being a professional of either.
I’ve spent more time on Windows than a hell of a lot of people
Are people really buying Macs for gaming? Hahahaha!!!!
Did I say they were buying the Mac for gaming? I said they were using the Mac for gaming. I game on my Mac.
I find the PC a hell of a lot more productive because they let people do anything they want with it. Its about finding the right tool to do everything that you can possibly do on it (you would probably accuse doing something like this as “jack of all trade and master of none� which of course is irrelevant in this time and age).
Imagine, a computer that allows me to do anything that I could possibly have any use for in computing, gaming, movie watching (in Full HDTV no less!), internet, management of 3rd party devices, phones, pdas EVERYTHING! Such possibilities have been made available for such a long time already (which has only started for Mac users).
I can do anything I want to do with my Macs. What do I want to do with a computer? Surf the web, check my email, chat with friends on AIM, MSN, IRC, listen to music, make music, program (applications and websites), write up reports, watch movies, make movies, play games. I can do all of that on any computer (granted I can’t write Mac applications on Windows or Linux).
I find this strange. Which part of the homework couldn’t you get done on a computer? I’m sure millions and millions of students out there had no problems getting things done no?
What homework? There is nothing I can do on a Mac that I can’t do on a PC and nothing I can do on a PC that I can’t do on a Mac. The only difference is that I personally find the Mac easier. As for millions of students getting things done with no problems, here’s a anecdote of my GCSE graphics class. I was the only mac user in the class, the other 29 people were PC users. We were using PCs in the class to do some work and most of the 29 people ended up asking me to help them with their work because the “computer wasn’t doing it right”.
Windows, I believe supports a lot more than that. I’m willing to bet that its somewhere in the hundreds and thousands and maybe even millions. Think of the many software out there in other countries such as Arabia and Asia, each have their own suites of software customised just for themselves.Â
I’m not denying it has a lot more software, I’m just saying the Mac is no slouch either
Actually I did a test to find out what kind of software I could “download� as compared to PCs/Windows.
The Mac had 295 software (lets say 250 as many of them were the same but uploaded by different people).
Linux had over 900.
Windows had 16000.
Seriously with that many software why the hell does anyone want to go with anything else? If Windows doesn’t have it then there’s Linux which can be dual booted on the same PC.
Where did you get that 295 figure from? If you go to http://www.macsanta.com you’ll see at least 200 apps and that’s only a small fraction of the Mac market. Visit MacUpdate.com and you’ll see 1109 applications that have been updated since 20th April, 44 of which were updated today. If you bothered reading my post you’ll see a link to a site with a list of almost 18,000 native OS X apps.
Maybe they’re smarter than you think. Maybe they already have a monitor and don’t need another one! Think I’ve heard this argument before, don’t really want to beat the old horse again. PCs FTW.
Yet if I suggested the Mac Mini you’d start laughing about how it had no monitor.
I know you said that the ATV isn’t very good, I’m just trying to reinforce the point.
Again streaming isn’t very important, and if you knew anything about HDTV then the ATV isn’t up to the task because it isn’t designed for streaming large videos, but those from iTunes which are much smaller in size. 
Unlike my player which streams via USB (handy) or network wired/wireless(convenient) as well as locally(best performance). Again, I’m talking very high level media streaming here, something that most people don’t really know much about.
You do realise that the Apple TV has USB 2.0, Ethernet and a 40GB HD?
Its capable of higher resolution no doubt, but what are most iTune videos resolution these days again?
What do iTunes videos have to do with this? You can use video from other sources with the AppleTV
I actually had the first iMac at work, and bought a MacPro before but no longer have either. The iMac was just incredibly limited and boring while the MacPro was simply too hot to hold. It was back in the shops within a day.
Why the hell were you holding a Mac Pro?
Sure. Thing is, I know so much more about the PC and getting stuff for it. Because of its consistency and Windows only just changing to Vista, its been far easier to advice people on how to use XP on PCs than it was to talk about Macs.
So a huge change is better than lots of smaller changes?
Hell no!!! I have no interest in writing Applescript whatsoever, at least not in a language that can’t be used on any other platform.
There is a lot more to programming on the Mac than just Applescript, you don’t honestly think that most applications on the Mac are written using Applescript do you?
You said that the Mac now has the performance advantage for OpenGL games over Windows. Which one? I’m not using Vista although it is very impressive. I’m sure over time Vista would produce better results for openGL games. Right now, I think DirectX games would suffice.
Over time Vista will produce better results for OpenGL games and other OpenGL software (like the majority of 3D graphics apps out there). Though at the moment tests show it being about 90% slower than XP, which is about on par with OS X with openGL performance
Since when is the iPod the only MP3 player to buy? Last time I recalled, Sansa and Zune were 2 of the most prominent mp3 players with the Zune gaining quite a bit of healthy attention lately.
Last time I checked the only vaugly healthy attention the Zune got was that it had 10% of the HD MP3 player market, so maybe 3-4% of the overall MP3 market. Sansa seem to be the only company making any real gains against Apple and the iPod
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| May. 14, 2007 | |
| 11:33 am |
26.
I’m not denying that support is important, what I’m saying is that amount of support a platform has available is not a reflection on how easy to use that platform is.
Again with the monopoly? You make it sound like Apple is the only one allowed to give a user support on a Mac. If you don’t know how to do something on the Mac then a quick search on Google will find at least 5 people who do and have blogged about it.
I’m not talking about regular software. Lets take your examples. Can you imagine buying a DVD player but then having to buy the buttons and remote? Can you imagine buying a toaster but then having to buy the controls for the toaster? That is what it is like for a blind or visually impaired person when they buy a PC. They buy the PC and then they have to buy software just to use the basic PC functions.
And again you come up with the monopoly. Lets look at the Apple products in my dock. Mail, Safari, iChat, iTunes, Quicktime, Preview, TextEdit, Xcode, Interface Builder, GarageBand, Terminal, AddressBook. That’s 12 Apple products in my dock, along with 26 3rd party products. Now, if you were to look at Vista you’d see that besides the developer tools and GarageBand, MS has provide applications for all of those in the OS. And with VS Express you can even have some MS developer tool. So unless you’re going to try to claim that because Apple includes GarageBand that it’s a monopoly but because MS doesn’t include an equivalent to GarageBand it isn’t a monopoly then you have no basis for your argument.
You really do like taking my replies out of context just so you can make a feeble argument. I mean, I reply to something you said and then your follow up reply has nothing to do with what you originally said. You were going on about doing something that most people wouldn’t likely do. I mean, everyone can use a video recorder but how many people know how to properly set the clock on it? There is a difference between being able to use a computer and being able to do advanced stuff.
Ok, I hold up my hand here, you’ve got me. I’ve never compile Linux, which as everybody knows means I can’t possibly have ever used Windows or Linux. I never really used Windows 3.1 & 95 in primary school. I was just lying when I said I used NT 4 and 2000 in secondary school. I’ve never used Windows 98SE in Virtual PC. My stories of using XP whenever I go into the computer labs here at university are completely fictional and I’m just imagining that I have Vista Business installed on my iMac. And Linux? Pft. Never did I install Ubuntu (breezy badger) onto an old PC at secondary school or an old iBook I had.
People are using the Mac for gaming, does it mean the Mac is king of gaming? No. People use Windows for everything, people use Macs for everything. The difference is where the focus is.
No, the only real way of deciding which platform is the ideal choice for productivity is finding out how well users work on them. If you were to get 100 Windows users and 100 Mac users you’d probably end up finding that some of the Windows users are very productive but some aren’t and that some of the Mac users are very productive and some aren’t. People are different, some people are more productive with music, some in silence. Some are more productive at night, some in the morning. Some are more productive on OS X, some on Windows. I find working on Windows to be very unproductive, you may feel the same way about OS X. That is because I am not you and you are not me.
As for Windows supporting 1000s of software titles, I’m not denying that. But what you seem to be avoiding is the fact that the Mac also has 1000s of software titles (17,730 native OS X apps according to hyperjeff.net: http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/). You like to paint this idea that only Apple can write software for the Mac, because it allows you to carry on with your “apple is an evil monopoly” argument.
I don’t want fancy and I don’t want expensive. I want something that gets the job done. I got an iMac and a MacBook. If I was to go and try and get a PC with similar specs from PC World, or from online I would find that most of them would be around the same price as both of those (+/- £50-100). Yes some people want a bog standard, cheap box computer. In which case they’re going to go to Dell or HP, spend their £250 and get their sempron machine with no monitor.
Again, am I denying that the Xbox is good? No. I’m just saying that no one company has got the living room entertainment market to themselves. And yes, the Xbox is more successful in western markets, but I wouldn’t say it’s the top dog
Maybe you are misunderstanding me. I said that the current Apple TV isn’t very good. What I said though is that the idea (small box that streams your media from all the computers in your house) is good. Yes it’s over priced, yes it isn’t extremely powerful (though you are mistaken about the 640 x 480 max resolution. The max is actually 1280 x 720). If it was £50-100 cheaper and had a DVD drive though I’d be interested. Don’t get the idea and the implementation mixed up.


A media server is a different product to a media extender. They both server different markets. Some people want a media server, some want a media extender and a few people want both.
OK and this implication that you’re a real geek and I’m not? Lets have a little test shall we. A real geek would have used at least one other OS than their preferred one to an decent extent. I doubt that you have used the Mac, so prove me wrong:
I’ve used Windows enough that I can help many people (who use Windows all the time) out with problems that they may have. Can you say the same for the Mac?
I’ve programmed on Windows, writing several applications in different languages. Have you ever written a line of code on a Mac?
I’ve used Windows. Have you honestly ever used a Mac? Not just seen one in a shop, moved the mouse around for 30 seconds and then walked away. I mean have you spent several hours on a Mac.
OpenGL in Vista worse than XP: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2007/01/30/xp -vs-vista-uk/page6.html
Improvement in OpenGL on the Mac: http://www.insidemacgames.com/features/tunc ersblog.php?ID=106
http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.ars/20 06/8/17/5024
Yes, I wasn’t debating the amount of 3rd party software. If you bothered reading the next sentence (which I assume you did but ignored because it proved you wrong) I said that just because Windows has more 3rd party software doesn’t mean it allows more 3rd party software. To say that Windows allows more 3rd party software would be to say that OS X and Linux has restrictions on how much 3rd party software is allowed to be written. There is no-one saying you can’t write an app for OS X or Linux or Windows. As such all 3 platforms allow 3rd party software as much as each other
If I wanted to delete iTunes I could.
Nice way to get out of the argument. I don’t care if you don’t want to delete them, I’m asking you that if you did (assume you wanted to free up the disk space) could you? And yes I could delete iTunes and use a different media player. As for finder, I don’t think you could delete it, but there are alternatives out there that you can replace it with (http://www.cocoatech.com/pf4/).
As for buying OS X with no pre-installed software. No you can’t, but you can’t buy Windows with no pre-installed software either (unless you can show me a version of Windows with no email client, web browser, word processor/text editor, command line prompt etc).
The thing is, if you want a full media player then you aren’t going to buy an iPod are you? But if you want an MP3 player then you are going to buy an iPod. I play a few games on my iPod and watch the occasional video podcast on it, but I use it as an MP3 player 99% of the time.
You just proved how incapable you are of comparing Macs and PCs. If no-one really cares about what Apple did then I guess you don’t care about the fact that the mouse, the gui, multimedia capabilities, CD drives, 3 1/4” floppies (both added and taken out), WiFi, USB etc. are popular now. Yes, Apple didn’t invent any of those, and they may not have been the first in some of them, but they were the ones who popularised those technologies.
As for what Apple is doing and is going to do, well there are a hell of a lot of journalists that care about it, a lot of investors care about it, a lot of the public care about it. You obviously care about it enough to argue it. And you still haven’t shown how Apple is a monopoly? Is MS a monopoly because they’re using the exact same tactic to sell Xboxes and Zunes? Which of the two companies has been found guilty of abusing a monopoly to sell their products? Apple is only a monopoly if you consider OS X and Macs both separate markets to the OS and hardware markets. But in order to do that you have to class Windows as a separate market and Dell computers as a separate market and HP computers as a separate market which would make Microsoft, Dell, HP etc. all monopolies along with Apple.
If you buy a Mac do you have to use just Apple software? No
If you buy a Mac do you have to use Apple’s OS? No
If you buy a Mac can you only get support from Apple? No
Apple is not a monopoly. You asked me to look up the definition of a monopoly, I’m asking you to do the same and to try to apply it to Apple.
Oh and as a last question, you never responded with your criticism of Time Machine, care to say what it is? I can probably guess what it is, and if I’m right I can show how it’s not really that valid a criticism.