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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.
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