O'Reilly Thinks Mac OS X May Be the 'Next Big Thing'

Arkham writes "Tim O'Reilly gave a speech at WWDC called 'Watching the Alpha Geeks: Mac OS X and the next big thing', in which he suggested that Apple is doing the right things to be a big success. Specifically, Apple should continue to 1) adhere to standards, 2) keep things small and modular, and 3) document as you go -- man pages and RFCs. Anyone who has used Mac OS X can see that Apple is trying hard to be a good open-source citizen (for example, the new zero-config Rendezvous technology). The question is, at what point will these efforts pay off (more users, and thus more money)?" What is this "money" you speak of?

Comments

I like OS X too.. but..

[josepha48]

.. I can get decent pc hardware cheaper. Okay I saw the onay vs mac comparison where Sony was only a little better than the Mac and Mac was 1/2 as expensive, but I paid 800 for my current computer almost a year ago, including OS (RH 7.1 at the time). I don't think I could have gotton a Mac for that price. Okay I probably could have gotton a Mac for that price, but not one with 512Meg of RAM. Not NEW. 1.2Ghz CPU, 32Meg video card, NIC, 52x cdrom, SB live sound card.

Won't Buy from Apple Until Keyboard Problem Fixed

[Anonymous Coward]

I am in Apple's target market. I am a long-time Unix user. I appreciate quality! I lust after their laptops. But I just can't buy one, yet.

This is because I can't use their laptops' keyboards. I need the key to the left of the 'A' to be a Ctrl key. This is not just a want; it is a genuine need based upon ergonomic reasons.

Apple's cost to satisfy my keyboard desires is small: re-design their laptops to use USB keyboards just like the rest of their line. Unfortunately for me, Apple hasn't done this yet. Their laptops still use the ADB keyboards, which are horribly broken-by-design. ADB keyboards are a vestage of the old insanely-bad input devices days, when Apple didn't have an industrial-strength unix core.

Apple: Please fix your laptop keyboards! Please re-design your laptop motherboards to use a modern up-to-date USB keyboard, to go along with your robust and mature modern up-to-date unix OS!!

Note: is is now possible to use the keyboard with Debian GNU/Linux, but as of yet, Apple has not made it possible for unix old-timers to use with OSX.

My standard rant follows:

Apple Laptop Keyboards are Unacceptable to Unix Users

Apple designs horrible keyboards. ADB keyboards (which are still used on all of Apple's laptops) are unusable to unix users who need a Ctrl key to the left of the 'A'.

Proper Keyboard Design

• When a key is pressed, the keyboard sends a keyPress event.
• When a key is released, the keyboard sends a keyRelease event.
• Each key is assigned a different keycode.

Nothing more, nothing less.

ADB Keyboard Mis-design

• When the key to the left of the 'A' (CapsLock) is pressed, the ADB keyboard sends both a keyPress event and a keyRelease event.
• When the CapsLock key is then released, the ADB keyboard sends NO events.
• When the CapsLock key is next pressed, the ADB keyboard sends NO events.
• When the CapsLock key is then released, the ADB keyboard sends both a keyPress event and a keyRelease event.
• The above cycle repeats over and over.

This is WRONG ! Apple's ADB keyboards are broken by design.

Unix Users Cannot Use Apple's ADB Keyboards

What this means is that unix users who need the key to the left of the 'A' to be a Ctrl key cannot use Apple ADB keyboards. You can easily reprogram the CapsLock key to be a Ctrl key and get rid of the badness of the CapsLock key, but you can't get the required goodness of the Ctrl key to the left of the 'A'.

Apple Loses Sales to Unix Users

All Apple laptops have the horrible broken-by-design ADB keyboards which are unusable to unix users. I want to buy an Apple laptop, but I cannot and will not until Apple builds input devices usable by unix users.