Apple has ‘out-Linuxed’ Linux with OS X Leopard
Though Apple has gladly worked with the open source community by releasing source codes to OS X, many open source purists choose different iterations of Linux as their platforms of choice; however, Apple has finally put to rest any disputes over which UNIX system reigns supreme with OS X Leopard.
Or so Information Week’s Alexander Wolfe believes. Apple just release the source code for Leopard, called Darwin 9.0, in which the evidence to Leopard’s superiority over other UNIX systems lies.
On Apple’s Developer Connection website, the company states, “”If you like open source development, you’ll love Mac OS X. This fully-conformant UNIX operating system — built on Mach 3.0 and FreeBSD 5 — bundles over a hundred of the most popular Open Source products. You can shell out with bash, tcsh, ksh, and zsh; edit your code with emacs, vim, and nano; and build your projects using gcc, make, and autoconf.”
With such an extensive list of options for tweaking and customizing, just about anyone could make their own unique iterations of OS X with relative ease. Now, it won’t BE OS X, because Apple would never release every piece of their valuable source code to the public, but something close could be achieved.
That is where Linux and OS X part ways; OS X, as retail entity will never SEEM quite as open to modification as Linux iterations. However, the code behind Leopard is just so good it surpasses anything Linus Torvalds has been able to come up with, (at least on a scale of success) says Wolfe.
However, it isn’t really fair to say that OS X is more “successful” than Linux; the whole point of Linux is for users to get exactly what they want however they want it, and for free. It serves as an alternative to Windows, and in that respect, it truly delivers a superior environment to computing than Windows ever could for those who choose to educate themselves in the ways of Linux.
Though OS X and Linux will never really be in direct competition, it seems fairly clear that the platform of OS X is more successful to any other Linux platform in circulation today…not that it amounts to a hill of beans. With the help of dollars and top-notch development teams, Apple has built a better Linux than Linux.
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November 12th, 2007
Wolfe is a tool and clickthrough troll of the highest order. Repeating his verbiage casts you in no prettier a light. Be very aware of this.
If you want to be controlled by Apple and give not an iota of care to your personal and computing freedoms, sure, go ahead and use Mac OS X.
If, however, you want to remain free in what you can do with your computer, with your music and your movies – how you watch, listen and use – then nothing surpasses Linux.
Peace.
November 12th, 2007
He may be a tool, but so are you. There is absolutely not one thing I can’t do with my Mac running OSX that I would ever want to do in a million years. Except, perhaps, spend waste vast, yawning chasms of time dicking around with the guts of the OS rather than getting work done. But then, who in their right mind would want to do that?
Keep your so-called ‘free’ linux, and I’ll keep my ghastly, capitalistic productivity.
November 12th, 2007
He may be a tool, but so are you. There is absolutely not one thing I can’t do with my Mac running OSX that I would ever want to do in a million years. Except, perhaps, waste vast, yawning chasms of time dicking around with the guts of the OS rather than getting work done. But then, who in their right mind would want to do that?
Keep your so-called ‘free’ linux, and I’ll keep my ghastly, capitalistic productivity.
November 12th, 2007
>>”will never SEEM quite as open to modification as Linux iterations. However, the code behind Leopard is just so good it surpasses anything Linus Torvalds has been able to come up with, (at least on a scale of success) says Wolfe.”<<
Right. The internet will be running on Xserver any minute now. This blog site should make a rule to never allow entries about the Linux OS itself, from writers who don’t/haven’t run it as their main OS for any length of time. Linux: Marketing-fine, Zealot users-Fine, GLP-fine. Technical comparisons by parroting terms you don’t understand-wrong. Since Spanish and French both descended from Latin, then Spanish= almost French. I can run a large number of open source programs on Windows, change themes and appearances so it resembles OS X .It won’t be OS X but it’s close. Since the main reason for OS X is to have an expensive and shiny, closed system without having access to the underling structure, and to have an alternative to a totally open Linux, Windows seems to have out OS X’ed OS X.
If the above seems moronic to you, you see how you look to Linux users. Free range chickens only have a bigger and more comfortable cage, they aren’t free. Jobs has your chain in his fist, he can jerk it whenever it suits his needs. The fact that you are not only locked to the OS, but whatever hardware Apple deems worthy to market, makes this even more ironic. Stockholm syndrome springs to mind.
November 12th, 2007
“There is absolutely not one thing I can’t do with my Mac running OSX that I would ever want to do in a million years. Except, perhaps, spend waste vast, yawning chasms of time dicking around with the guts of the OS rather than getting work done. But then, who in their right mind would want to do that?”
Who indeed. Vast yawning chasms of time? Right. That happens to every Linux user every day. That would explain the increased number of users.
“Nothing in a million years….” sounds suspiciously like “Kids don’t mention ice skating to Grandma… she can’t do it. Talk about taffy pulling. Grandma likes taffy.” What are you doing reading this, don’t you have more self important, productive things to do besides posting the same comment twice?
November 12th, 2007
When I was younger and had more time, I had a succession of bikes. They were all either very cheap – of course, second hand – or free. Ancient British bikes. I’d always ride with a toolkit in the pannier – you never know when something might break down, you’d have to adjust the tappets, clean the spark plugs and so on. Great fun. I enjoyed the tinkering. I’m not being sarcastic, I really did. Time was not a problem.
Nowadays I use a Japanese 50cc scooter. All I have to do is keep it topped up with gas and oil. I don’t even know where the spark plug is located.
Linux and OSX.
I don’t have time to tinker. I understand the appeal, I just need to get stuff done, quickly.
So I use OSX and ride around on a 50cc scooter.
John Davis
November 12th, 2007
So strange and definitely troll-worthy.
Which is better? OS X limits you to Apple hardware (if you want a legit installation) and some of Apple’s thinking. But you can hack as far down into the bowels of the system as you wish. You can play ogg-vorbis music to your heart’s content (tip: don’t mention “ogg-vorbis” to non-techies; nerdiest codec name I’ve EVER heard of). You also get an arguably superior interface, not a MS Windows derivative.
Linux gives you almost unlimited flexibility and power, server chops, GUI choices, but you still have to fight with device drivers (sometimes).
Which one is better? OS X. Linux. Depends on what you like. Not every question is black and white.
Bot
P.S. OS X RUULLLZ!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, sorry.
November 12th, 2007
So strange and definitely troll-worthy.
Which is better? OS X limits you to Apple hardware (if you want a legit installation) and some of Apple’s thinking. But you can hack as far down into the bowels of the system as you wish. You can play ogg-vorbis music to your heart’s content (tip: don’t mention “ogg-vorbis” to non-techies; nerdiest codec name I’ve EVER heard of). You also get an arguably superior interface, not a MS Windows derivative.
Linux gives you almost unlimited flexibility and power, server chops, GUI choices, but you still have to fight with device drivers (sometimes).
Which one is better? OS X. Linux. Depends on what you like. Not every question is black and white.
Bot
P.S. OS X RUULLLZ!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, sorry.
November 12th, 2007
I like the Mac for what it is: A wonderful, easy to use tool for getting things done. I like Linux for what it is: Free and open and fully configurable. I plan on getting a Mac, but it’ll also boot up Linux when I’m done with it. Why be limited?
As for Wry User, I’ve been using Linux for quite awhile and I’ll certainly tell you that I spend about as much time “dicking around with the guts of the OS” as you probably do yours, which is very little at all. I can install, remove, and update software in batches. You’re still doing it the old fashion way, just like Window users do – one application at a time… Overall, I’d say I’m spending less time than you ‘dicking around’. You’ve obviously been looking at the wrong Linux distro. Ubuntu isn’t the only one, you know. I use PCLinuxOS…radically simple.
November 13th, 2007
I’m not sure why the constantly needing to tinker and mess with Linux, but a Mac just works, thing keeps bubbling up. If you bring up any negative comments,I see the “That was OS9, get current you loser” (although that OS “just worked” according to the users at that time), or the” I’m too important to deal with OS problems and maybe someday you will grow up to be rich and successful enough to own a Mac” answer. A quick look around at Macfixit, Appleinsider and Apple’s own forums seem to blow a hole in the unsinkable USS Smug. Folks with bad video chips, LCDs, cracking notebook cases and bad power supplies aren’t in short supply. I set my parents up with a clone and Suse 2 years ago, and haven’t needed to touch it. My wife’s laptop runs PClinixos. She does spreadsheets and Power Point presentations with Open Office, saves them in Office formats and shares with M$ users, and runs multimedia files. I haven’t spent an hour over the last year working on it. I’m always tinkering with different distros and programs on my laptop, but that’s because of like and want, not need. The family machines have software that was installed from the Distro’s Repositories and the programs are updated en mass (that’s correct all programs on the machines, not just the OS) with one click. No dependences problems. It just works. On hardware I choose. At a fraction of the cost on my 17″ dual core Intel Dell laptop. Baaaaaaaaaaa.
November 13th, 2007
Right, Darwin will never be OS X. Why? Because nearly everything that makes a Mac and Mac is proprietary and closed source. Without the code to Leopard’s actual working environment Darwin is nothing but a stripped down variant of FreeBSD 5 running on a weird Apple kernel. You’d be better off just installing FreeBSD 5 so you can enjoy it properly. Apple could replace Darwin with any underlying OS and the Mac bits running on top of it wouldn’t be much affected at all.
November 13th, 2007
The Mach Micro-Kernel is a totally different beast than the Linux Kernel. It’s like the difference between a thread and a process.
November 14th, 2007
Darwin 9.0 != Mac OS X Leopard.
For those of you that are barely computer literate, ‘!=’ means ‘does not equal.’
Open source development means having full and unconditional access to the system, and this is what Linux gives you. This is what FreeBSD gives you. This is what Darwin gives you.
Large portions of Leopard are closed source. I want to be able to tinker with that stuff too. There are times in which tinkering is not important to me, but that’s ultimately what makes a platform successful. It’s what builds a reliable system: a developer likes the system, likes the freedom it provides, and starts using it. He needs to scratch an itch now and then, because he has problems with the system, like every man has with every system. He codes quality programs to meet his needs, he fixes bugs in the system, he forks existing projects. Not the traditional model of development, but ultimately what produces quality software.