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Mac OS X Switcher Stories
spid writes "Tim O'Reilly posted an interesting article about people switching from other OSes (Mac OS, Windows, Linux) to Mac OS X. The resounding consensus is that most folks appreciate how, compared to these other OSes, Mac OS X 'just works.' O'Reilly also makes an interesting point that UNIX/Linux users, rather than Windows users, would be the best target niche for Apple's 'switch' campaign."
Not only do you tell us that you bought a cube (bleh!), but you also tell us that you can't figure out how to attach a multibutton mouse, or read the specs on your machine...and then you go on to brag about having virtual desktops in Ximian-Gnome (which is also easily accomplished on a Mac). Well, Mac OS has the features that you mentioned, you just weren't able to figure out how to implement them. Given that we're talking about Mac OS (legendary ease of use), that's pretty sad for you.
Somehow, the idea that someone who's already been suckered into religion, was suckered into advertising, is not too surprising to me.
I find it frustrating every time I hear Linux users (whom I usually expect to have a clue) drool over the sickening and ugly desktop that is OSX.
But its Ok, because Darwin is free and Open Source, right? Right?
Wrong.
Apple are lying to you. Darwin is not free as in freedom. It is more restrictive than any other license, effectively asking you to accept that it covers running code, not just redistribution. Then there's the lack of privacy - any modifications have to be disclosed to a single, monopolistic party - Apple.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/apsl.html. The FSF boycotted Apple, remember. Apple are not the saviour of the desktop, they are not a wonderful company, and they are not embracing freedom. Apple are just as evil, monopolistic and money-hungry as the rest of them.
"I think he was truly surprised at how little I cared about how big a market the Mac had" - Linus on Jobs
OS X is an 18-year-old user interface running on top of a 30-year-old operating system. The only reason anybody on Slashdot cares about OS X at all is because of its BSD foundation. The fanboi crowd on this site seems to have short memories with regard to the fact that prior to OS X, Apple had the only operating system still in widespread use that did not support pre-emptive multitasking or paged memory.