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Mac OS X replacing Linux at Tokyo University
TekkaDon writes "At least 1,150 desktop and server PCs running Linux will be replaced with Mac OS X computers at the University of Tokyo next year, as reported by Asahi (Japanese), and echoed by MacRumors.com. 'Ease of maintenance and software installation were cited among the reasons for the switch.' I wonder if Keitaro and Naru will get iMacs at Hinata as well."
Well this is the direction of my Switching. DOS/Windows to Linux, Linux to Sun, Sun to Mac. After time I started to realize the importance of having you hardware well integrated and optimized for the Computer. After Running Threw DLL Hell with Windows, Then going threw the Libary Dependencies with Linux, Then again with Sun, except Sun worked with the hardware better, Macs are just a piece of cake.
So this progression for Japan is not that Odd. They were probably using Windows first and the instability viruses etc got on their nerves so they switch to Linux. Linux probably ran pretty good but they ordinary users were afraid to use linux. So OS X is a good combination of both.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You should check out Radmind for Mac OS X. It won second place for Best Server Solution at Apple's Design Awards. While the underlying technology works for Linux (and Solaris), the wiz-bang GUI is only available for the Mac.
:w
This kind of thing is probably why Apple is one of the few computer companies making a profit these days: so many universities are changing, who needs the housewives' money?
--- Egads, I glow in the dark!
i've been getting into cocoa lately and discovering alot about mac programming in the process which is different from windows or *nix programming. on the mac, rolling your own library/control is extremely discouraged. as for the gui, it's due to the mac os l&f, as for the rest,1) there is little need, 2) if needed, keep all libraries static. if you get a chance to play with os x, control click on any application and you will get an option to show package contents. everything, from nibs (ui files), to libraries, to icons, will be there.
apple exerts far greater control over the os than linux due to the open nature, and microsoft due to their clusterfuck nature. that is why it "just works". it has both advantages and disadvantages. oh well.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
I'm not keeping up with what's happening in Japan, either. But Macs were admired 10 years ago. Japan was the country where the Mac had the biggest market share in those days (15%?). Things changed in '95. Perhaps you are talking about that period?
Still, when iMac debuted, it stayed the best selling personal compter quite a while.
This isn't that uncommon anymore. At a recent O"Reilly conference, most of the laptops were PowerBooks. Even our fearless leader CmdrTaco owns one. Apple's share of the laptop market has soared from 5% to 7% - that doesn't seem like much, but in percentage terms that's a 40% jump.
Back in the late 90s I was using a mixed network with SGI for web development, some Linux, and a Windows machine to run commercial software such as Photoshop.
Then I struck out on my own for a while, and for financial reasons I used Linux for my own stuff and Windows because clients demanded it. (I still really liked the SGI GUI design a lot more).
An interest in video production and editing got me my first Mac in 1998, a beige G3/266. I upgraded to a G4/450 dual processor in 2000. I found MacOS 9 very appealing, but since it didn't run emacs, it could not be my primary development machine.
When MacOS X came out, I started switching all my personal computing to MacOS X, because I loved the look and feel of it, and it still ran all my web software developed for Linux. At that point, I could do all the development I would ever need on one machine. I was sold on the Mac environment at that point.
When I switched jobs in 2000 to a company that let me develop web software for Linux, it looked like my situation was pretty stable. But in 2003, after one too many security breaches, I got the okay to switch our web system from Linux to MacOS X.
To bring us bang up to date, I took delivery of my personal G5/2ghz dual processor machine last Wednesday. Wonderful system.
Of all the operating systems and environments I've used, from Sun and SGI to every version of Windows imaginable (most of them, of course, better left unimagined), MacOS X is by far the best. It's lovely to look at without tweaking, it has a designer flair that's extremely appealing, and it runs all the software I could ever need (Unix + Macintosh).
I'm not saying it's flawless; nothing is. But it's the closest thing I've seen yet, and I don't see any major threats to it as the best designed and conceived operating environment around.
Hope that helps.
D
That hardly seems surprising.
Everytime I see a personal computer in any Japanese media (TV, film, etc) that isn't SciFi, it's a Mac, and always has been.
Ofcourse it's still Unix, BSD...
So... it's just a horizontal shift, instead of a jump into the jaws of Microsoft.
Yes. Yes I am.
Can I have 3 free registration codes?
No. No you can't.
While it's nice to be recognized on slashdot it doesn't mean that I will just give my work away for free. I have spent a hell of a lot of time working on Lux. If you like it enough to ask for freebies on slashdot don't you like it enough to purchase a registration code. It's not very much money in the grand scheme of things. Plus it helps support independent software developers.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
Hopefully this will mark the start of a number of educational institutions and enterprises making the shift from MS, then Linux, to the beauty of OS X.
Bring on Ford and the city of Hamburg, once they realise that there is a system which carries the power of *nix, but doesn't need as much fiddling as Linux (unless you really want it to).
There is a course at one of the Universities in Western Australia which hands out iPods to the students, for them to store their course work on them. And who could forget the G5 based supercomputer at Virginia Tech.
The more vocal the complaints get against the Microsoft monopoly, the more chances that the other platforms get, so the future looks good.
InfoSec that matters, when it counts.
Not too shabby, from a sales point of view.
--- Egads, I glow in the dark!
The statment "Mac OS X replacing Linux at Tokyo University" is misleading on so many levels, I won't even begin. The discussion has further degenerated around inaccurate speculation. Let's touch briefly on reality:
The University-wide system is described here.
The new system, which includes the Macs and is provided by NEC, is described here.
These are "located in the Information Education Buildings, the Information Technology Center, and the main library" (ref) to be used "for general computer literacy education and programing education".
16% of the terminals will be Windows-based for lectures using Windows or CAD applications. What they replace are a mix of Windows NT and X window terminals (they write "X-terminal", but presumably these are actually linux boxes, not really X terminals).
What this decidedly has nothing to do with is the systems used by scientists, scholars, administrators, and clerical staff at the University of Tokyo. Nor what might be used in other teaching settings. So, the idea that Univ of Tokyo once used Linux monolithiocally is as wrong as to think Linux was replaced by OS X monolithically. -Eric