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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.