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Latest Version of iPodLinux Reviewed
Demolition writes "The latest release of the iPod-Linux Installer has been reviewed on Accelerate Your Mac!, a popular Mac performance/modification site. As mentioned in previous Slashdot articles, the iPodLinux Project is an open source venture devoted to porting Linux to Apple's iPod. In a nutshell, the reviewer finds that the iPodLinux Project has progressed a long way from its early proof-of-concept days."
From the "because you can, and really no other reason" department.
Serious question. Why would you want to run linux on an Ipod which already has a great interface? the ipod also doesn't have much horsepower, so not sure this is a cheap PC in the making?
thanks!
Is it digitally signed?
Am I the only one seeing the IPOD going the way of POG in a few years? Still this has some interesting implications.
If people find out they might have the ability to do ohh so much more with they're $200+ toys, and they make it easy enough to port linux(has to be idiot proof), then we may find Linux getting much more exposure in pop culture. Unfortunately, I doubt they'll be able to make it user friendly enough.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
Pros: Expandability! This Linux thing is just gonna get bigger and bigger, baby. Linux will allow the iPod to live on and grow for years to come. This Linux thing? Is this the first time the author has ever heard of Linux?
Portland, North Dakota Puppies
Server is goooooooooone!
Not at full speed with the current software. It needs optimisation, or at least better buffering.
It would be possible to get third-party support for formats that are not officially supported, such as RealMedia or Microsoft DRM-protected audio files. Additionally the dial interface lends itself to use for reading e-book or USENET newsgroups, or for keeping an address book, phonebook, or the days events in your pocket.
However, I wonder if the GPL would create problems in this sort of environment -- presumably there is content that is not open on the player that would be necessary to incorporate into this project. Perhaps it would be wiser to adopt something Open Source such as OpenBSD instead; it's a text-only environment, so the lack of graphical support would be a minor problem at best, and it contains a good deal of security features that would be beneficial should wired applications for this new platform be developed after this project takes off.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
-H
a pair made for each other. LOL
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com.nyud.net:8090/feedback/ linux_on_ipod/Linux_on_ipod_review.html coral cache
d 6559742fe0c18b1/index.html mirror dot
http://www.mirrordot.com/stories/d8a6df82a51ffb2e
.sig
Ayhh...
: www.ipodlinux.org/index.php/
Sorry! The wiki is experiencing some technical difficulties, and cannot contact the database server.
Too many connections
Here is the link to cached page:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:yV2MBr7DjzQJ
HOWEVER, YOU ARE STILL STUPID
I have also have a very narrow vision of what I desire in a portable media player. I want a portable player that will play DVDs. It's what I use at home and it's what I want to use away from home. It is not too much to ask.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
I think they were hosting the site on an iPod.
I want an iPod with a 512x384 display, emulating a Mac Plus (except with much more RAM.)
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
But what if you want to put 40/80 GB of your music collection on a music player? What if you don't want to have to remove/upload music every time you wanted to hear something different? I know that even at 128kbps 1gb isn't a whole lot of music.
Sorry! The wiki is experiencing some technical difficulties, and cannot contact the database server.
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (11)
Just like they did with RealNetworks, Apple will probably put the kibosh on this project with a firmware upgrade or legal buffoonery. I don't know why so many Slashdotters like Apple; they do not support or sell Free Software and they do little to contribute to the FS/OSS community. For as much as they take from FreeBSD, they give nothing back. And if you start going on about Darwin being open-source, keep in mind that Darwin has no practical use beyond its basis for OS X.
::audible sigh::
Apple is not our friend. You might like their fancy computers and software, but never forget that they are a proprietary hardware and software company.
Now watch the Apple zealots mod this down for being anti-Apple.
-Jem
I mean, my GOD. It's almost like NetBSD. Next thing you know, there'll be Linux vibrators!
Hmm...
Suddenly I want to be a sysadmin!
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
...people!!!
it's actually quite cool, and extremely easy to install. i just wish it was as easy to get IP over firewire so i could ssh (or telnet) into the thing. i know it is quite possible on linux, but on OSX it is tricky and that is my ipod connectivity.
In a nutshell, the reviewer finds that the iPodLinux Project has progressed a long way from its early proof-of-concept days.
Looks like it has support for the "back" and "stop" buttons. Support for the "play" button should be available shortly. But it plays OGG!
Ipod Linux has been out for a long time. In fact, I think I'm gonna go boot it now. Ogg files run ok... but its got good FLAC support.
"Love is like a trampoline, first it's like "SWEET!!" then it's like *BLAMM!*"
So if I run a thousand of these in parallel do I get a microcomputer instead of a supercomputer?
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Since every time a media player is mentioned on /., and this is an iPod running Linux, and 95% of my collection is in ogg, etc. I've karma whore by posting this link to the currently /.ed iPod Linux Wiki FAQ. In short, here's the answer, and there is no reason, from either the site or TFA to change it (TFA says nothing about ogg.) No mailing list or forums available.
Note: Linux != ogg. If your iPod runs linux, that does not mean everything you can run in mplayer will suddenly work on your iPod as some seem to be suggesting.
Short version (from the Wiki):
Is there an OGG player?
The Tremor (http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/) player is running at about 80% real-time.
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
that is great, but when can i finally run linux on my toaster
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
Is there a way to use the windows firmware updater to flash my ipod? I couldn't find any mention of a windows version.. even the screenshots are for a OSX gui..
Unless Apple comes out with it soon this could be a huge feature for iPodLinux, iPod to iPod transfers are still being worked on however, maybe next year.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
There are several nice disk-based MP3/ogg players out there that already run Linux out of the box. You can save yourself a lot of trouble, get a more functional device, and support FOSS by buying one of those. Apple's iPod just isn't built for Linux and Apple clearly doesn't want you to run a FOSS OS on it (otherwise they would have shipped it with one).
No amount of buffering will help a source that cannot generate information as quickly as it is consumed. With a decoder running at 80% of real time, it needs to buffer at least 20% before starting to play (assuming that the UI and playback consumes no CPU power at all) to avoid gaps during a song. If all your songs are each 3 minutes long, you'll wait at least 36 seconds in between songs.
An Apple running Linux is one step further from Microsoft then a PC running Linux.
I wonder if this also means it's one step further from spyware/adware/malware/viruses etc then a PC. Seriously, It would seem that an Apple running Linux must be safer then either an Apple running OS X or a PC running Linux. The Apple/Linux virus would have to have binary compatability with the Linux OS and Apple hardware.
At 128kbps, 4 minutes per song and 1,000,000 KB in a GB, you would be able to store 260 songs on a 1GB USB MP3 Player.
:) ) of play) should be enough for a PORTABLE music player (when you go on a short trip do you take your collection of 200 DVDs with you? No, you take just a few to get you through the trip).
If your iPod is 40GB you will be able to store over 10,000 songs.
Now, both are portable and in both cases it is a piece of p1ss to plug your device into your computer and download/delete songs as you wish. I'm sure 260 songs (or over 17 hours (yes, I love google
And when you factor in the difference in price ($119 compared to $408, BOTH including delivery), I don't see why you would waste your money on an iPod.
-----------
The world is full of stupid people.
The world is full of stupid people.
Instead of making iPods work with Linux, why not Make them more accessible by lowering the price?
Insert Pithy Quote here.
Apple is not our friend. You might like their fancy computers and software, but never forget that they are a proprietary hardware and software company.
Since when is "friend" defined as non-commercial? Also are you incapable of having friends that do not share your religion? Most of us are not that narrow minded.
Apple promotes Unix on the consumer desktop. Apple increases the acceptance of FreeBSD by using it for portions, Darwin, of their operating system. Although they do not have to, BSD license, they are "good citizens" and make their changes available to the public. Apple has open sourced it's formerly proprietary file system code. They provide a free development environment with their systems. They actively work with Terra Soft to make a version of Linux, Yellow Dog, available for Apple hardware.
The fact that they do not open source all their code, their GUI in particular, does not make them an enemy. The fact that they do not support some people's pet music formats does not make them an enemy. The fact that their mission is not to promote all things open source does not make them an enemy. They seem happy to coexist, and to work with open source when appropriate.
Now watch the Apple zealots mod this down for being anti-Apple
Actually there is no shortage of legitimate reasons to mod you down.
please, tell me this? Why would you think "Slashdotters" wouldn't/shouldn't like Apple in the first place, considering the size and relative diversity of this "community"?
The only machine I use anymore than runs Linux at all is my MythTV box in my home entertainment center, and I'm just about to can it (too much instability with my particular hardware configuration, and I lack time to fight with it any further right now). Nonetheless, I'm still pretty much a daily Slashdot reader.
With your logic (Apple is not our friend, simply because they build/sell a proprietary product), absolutely none of us should ever tolerate a game console. Sega, X-Box, Playstation, GameCube... all the same. Evil, proprietary hardware and software bundled together in all of them!
Considering my years and years of trying to run Linux, along with a long period of avidly using OS/2 Warp, a brief stint working with BeOS, and running pretty much every flavor of Windows (and DOS before that), I think I'm far from the stereotypical "Mac zealot" - yet I do own a total of 3 Macs now (one is an older beige G3 all-in-one, but it still runs!). I'd have to say my experience with the Macs and primarily OS X is more enjoyable overall than practically all the other operating systems I worked with. Sure, it's not "free software" and *far* from free/cheap hardware, but I feel like I got my money's worth.
Linux was just the thing when I needed dedicated servers (web, ftp, etc.), but as a workstation, it's still lackluster for me. I have no problem paying out some money for a commercial (proprietary, even) product when it works as-advertised. Macs generally do.
I have also have a very narrow vision of what I desire in a portable media player. I want a portable player that will play DVDs. It's what I use at home and it's what I want to use away from home. It is not too much to ask.
Ask and ye shall receive! It turns out Apple makes a pretty sweet one of those, too. You can even run Linux on it, if you like.
I notice it records 44.1 kHz uncompressed RAW, doesn't say how many bits, and it's only mono. If only the iPods could record CD quality stereo, it would be the ultimate concert bootleg tool. I suspect Apple deliberately built in this limitation, they knew someone would crack this device eventually.
I think it would help these guy's out if an apple insider could help them out with figuring out the new hardware.
I read a lot of comments to this post that raise the question: "what's wrong with Apple being commercial?"
In my view I'm not for Linux/OSS because I'm anti-commercial or anti-proprietary software. My concern is when my computing freedom and computing choices are at risk. The monopoly proprietary OS that Microsoft releases is a threat to genuine competition. Microsoft has vertical complete control over the software of PCs. If they want to destroy another company they can make a competing product and integrate it in their OS. Apple on the other hand while much smaller, has control over the hardware and the software. This makes me nervous. There is a theoretical threat to freedom here. Of course it's not a practical threat because Apple doesn't have the dominance that Microsoft does. I only wish people would have had the forsight to see Microsofts theoretical threat before it became a practical one.
Why?
Their FAQ seems to be missing a serious question... Can I install this on my ipod without using a mac runnning osX? I'd be interested to check out their project, especially since a big drop fuxored my ipod hd requiring me to custom partition around the corruption in order to even use it as a small firewire drive. But, if I have to get access to somethign that boots osX just to install linux on my ipod I just don't think it's gonna happen. You'd think that they'd make the installer run under linux..
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
Sounds like the iPod will trump the USB external master storage device that slashdot just recently mentioned to us. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to move media from a USB all-in-one media reader to the iPod directly without the need of a computer? You could be taking pictures with a 16megapixel Canon and not worry about storage space as long as you have your iPod around. I'm gonna keep my eye on the development of this program. On top of that, recording audio with the left earphone bud is also another cool feature.
Linux at home
There's an easy to use installer for Mac and Windows. For Linux it's currently in the stage of "we assume you know what you're doing" sort of thing. Basically it's a simple as building a disk image with the right stuff and dd'ing it to the thing. I suggest reading the forums at the ipodlinux site.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The short version of the state of iPodLinux: It does work, and shows a lot of potential, but it's not quite useful as the sole OS for your iPod yet.
:)
A lot of development has been focused on the eye candy. Games, interface, that sort of thing.
What is really needed is some kernel and hardware hacker type guys who can get stuff working underneath all the interface and eye candy so as to make it actually useful for everyday use. Case in point: The iPod has a dual processor sort of thing. In the Apple firmware, the secondary processor is more or less devoted to audio decoding. That's not yet working on the iPodLinux kernel, instead the second processor is heavily underused and thus it's basically incapable of playing back high bitrate MP3s or AACs or things along those lines. Sorting that out would be a big step.
Looks and such are easy to program (hard to get right, but easy to actually do). Getting the thing to live up to its maximum potential is the hard part.
Help is gladly accepted, BTW.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The iPod doesn't need to have Ogg support just because you want it to.
Where did all the demoscene coders go ? Did they all go out and get jobs ? Honestly, those guys could have the iPod playing .ogms with subs.
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
Hey, I'm a dirty hippie you insensitive clod.
Ogg rules, too bad an ipod doesn't have the
processing power to play them.
And we are supposed to listen to a mac zealot ? I use linux everyday with nary a problem. I pick my hardware to match linux to avoid a lot of heartaches. I also use windows just about everyday with nary a problem, but only because I am a voracious updater/scanning/antivirus/firewall person. I don't use apples because they are overpriced and in general the user base is a bit snotty; although there are a few exceptions
well I have a 386sx/25 from around 1989 - "it still runs", but I wouldnt exactly call that a major feature.
G3 hardware is considerably more fragile than PC hardware and is lucky to still run after a few years?
Ogg is for dirty hippies. This software was created by dirty hippies. Therefore, all dirty hippies like ogg. Simple logic, my friend.
Haha! It's funny because it's true.
No seriously, OGG falls under 'it ain't broke, don't fuck with it' department when compared to MP3. So OGG is slightly more efficient than MP3. So What. Nobody outside of the dirty hippy community gives a shit if their player supports OGG. Hell 95% of the general public have never even heard of OGG.
You, sir, are an idiot.
Slashdot readers using 7 year-old kiddie-txt shorthand? When did this happen?
anyone know if it will work with programs that use the notes feature? like this freeware bible for ipod
pedro
which part? the project? how usable it is? the Ipod itself? for me, ipod's are overhyped. If you want a good hard drive player compatable with linux, I recommend the iriver Ihp-100 series, or if you would like a color screen, Ihp-300 series. just plug them into your usb slot, and they appear as a new drive!
No no no! Remember, in the Apple world, software only flows towards the Mac, not away from it. here it is in graphical form:
Linux/OSS/GPL/etc ---> OS X
Slashdot Has Been Blocked Due To Abuse
Donate
The best way to show your appreciation for the project is to make a donation. Funds are used to purchase newer iPods for the development team to port linux onto. Your contributions will help expand ipodlinux onto Apple's latest innovations such as the iPod mini, the click wheel iPod (4th gen) and iPod photo.
Please try again later.
If your servers can't handle the load, say so.
Don't accuse newssites and innocent surfers of being 'abusers'...
99% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
That's very perceptive of you Mr Stapleton and rather unexpected in a G Major
Maybe you're just trolling, but do you have any idea how many companies have been selling portable DVD players for several years now?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
The iPod doesn't need to have Ogg support just because you want it to.
Which is exactly why this is a useful project.
An OSS project like this is about being freed from Apple's self-interest.
You are right, Apple doesn't need to provide Ogg support because they are doing fine without providing it.
But if someone else wants Ogg support and is willing/capable of making it happen, they can.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
What's your point?
For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke
a EULA for hardware? I've never seen one of those before. All the hardware I've seen is intended to be purchased, not licensed.
Also, EULAs are for End Users. Maybe Apple has some methods at its disposal to prevent third parties from writing alternative OS's, but those methods have nothing to do with any EULAs.
Don't you hate meta-sigs?
hehe apples self interest ? most consumers wouldn't know what the fuck ogg vorbis is , let alone care that they can't play it.
OGG is gaining popularity very quickly. Have a search on $YOUR_FAVORITE_P2P_NETWORK for ogg, and have a look how many people care about it.
In comparison to wma, even musepack is more widely used. Ogg is easily the second most popular codec after mp3, beating aac in popularity on the typical desktop.
Apple *needs* ogg support to satisfy those people and for the record flac as well. The Karma has flac support as well as ogg, so I know what I and pretty much anyone who cares about sound quality will be getting.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822.3.
----
Your joking right. Yoda seems more acurate.
They can't have a very high opinion of slashdot readers... slashdot referrals are blocked! Mind you they can't be far off; the site is still up so it seems to be thwarting enough of us ;-)
Mod parent down for evil sig.
It's nothing more than an wailed pyramid scheme with evil info gathering goals.
Yes, its been asked several times but I still don't see a good answer beyond ' its cool ', or ' because we can'.
....
With the site being pounded into oblivion at the moment, what is the PRACTICAL reason for this?
What does it get me? New formats? ( I only use MP3 format now.. ) Better interface? ( that would be a hard one to accomplish )
If you tell me its going to 'make it into a real computer', then no thanks.. my PDA does that now and has INPUT
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I do like cheese.
hehe apples self interest ? most consumers wouldn't know what the fuck ogg vorbis is , let alone care that they can't play it.
That is not what this is about.
It is about the people who do know what the fuck ogg vorbis is, and want it on their iPod. Instead of whining about it, they are hacking away so that they can have it.
Apple doesn't give a shit about ogg, that's what I meant about Apple's self interest - if they needed ogg to sell more, they would include it. They don't, so they don't include it.
Oh wait, I forgot that I'm not supposed to feed the trolls....
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
We at Terra Soft (Yellow Dog Linux, Y-HPC) have managed to get our OS booting off an iPod connected as a firewire drive. We plan to sell them someday... we just haven't gotten around to it.
It's great, cuz you don't have to mess with your internal hard drive to try Linux.
no comment
Apple will announce FLAC and OGG playback for both iTunes and iPods at MWSF on 1/11.
...that I knew enough about programming in linux to create some nice DJ tools for the iPod, and/or had the time to learn it. Nothing super fancy but a "press the middle button to the beat" BPM calculator, live queuing and some sort of pitch/tempo control. Two of those hooked up to a mixer and BLAM.
Im sort of disappointed that Apple didn't add some more dj-friendly features but then I guess dj's arent really the target market.
You misunderstand... I see DVD-video players often. I see portable CD-players often... and portable cd-mp3 players often. I have not seen portable audio disc players that read DVDs. I.e. a portable DVD player with no video screen.
I have seen car DVD decks that can do DVD but I'm not sure how well you can operate them without an external screen.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
OK, I guess it's theoretically possible, but iPodLinux uses the Linux framebuffer device, which the free BSD unixes do not have.
ucLinux (microLinux) is a version of Linux designed specifically for embedded applications. Linux is pretty light-weight anyway, but ucLinux can run on a 286. What would you recommend as free alternative? There aren't many, and kernel performance seems to be perfectly sufficient here. (Note that the machine sports a corpulent 32MB of RAM).
Almost nobody who understands the business model of a proprietary software vendor (e.g., Microsoft) considers this model to be anything but evil -- the exceptions are mostly neo-liberal assholes*. Slashdot is special in that a good portion of its denizens do understand this business model (a small but influential portion). This is ironic because Slashdot's business model is not dissimilar, at least in terms of economics, but Slashdot is not comparable for other reasons.
Apple's business model is not less evil than Microsoft's, but they do less evil because they have less power. They also produce a far superior product, and this is why slashdotters, capable of recognizing it, flock to them. However, making a superior product does not excuse evil. Your argument is therefore entirely moot. Microsoft's product is only getting better, and I think it is reasonable to expect it to be the technical equal of GNU/Linux within the next few years. They will still be evil, though, and not worthy of support. Buying from Microsoft -- or even Apple -- is like crossing a picket line. Viewed in isolation, it's a fair trade, labor for wages, money for software. Viewed from a global perspective, it only gives power to a group that will use it for exploitation -- including the exploitation of the individual who believes he benefits. Thus, even if Apple or Microsoft produces a superior product, and even if you apparently benefit from buying it, in the end you detriment the world of software users as a whole.
Now I will be concrete. It is because of people like you that I cannot play quicktime movies. Cut it out, jerkface.
* Not all neo-liberals are assholes, and not all neo-liberal assholes are pro-Microsoft. But all pro-Microsoft neo-liberals are assholes.
Ok, I follow your logic - but I vehemently disagree with it!
I suppose we'll have to simply agree to disagree here -- but IMHO, the lifeblood of our nation's economic system DEMANDS that people building superior products (and offering superior services) be free to earn as much money as they can make. (That includes the consumer feeling free to spend his/her money on said products and services.)
By buying and benefiting from the products companies like Apple (or even Microsoft) build and sell, I'm hardly causing "detriment" to the world of software users as a whole. Au contraire, I'm helping a LARGE number of people retain gainful employment in the field of software development and hardware design!
I fully agree that large companies (Microsoft being one of the top offenders) often end up making less than ethical business decisions. The right way for a "free country" to handle this is to address the specific issues, without tossing out the "baby with the bathwater". Microsft deserves legal punishment for specific laws they break, when and if they break them. Same goes for Apple or anyone else. That doesn't mean consumers should feel "guilty" for buying their products. Several of my personal friends held jobs at Microsoft, including one guy who raised and supported his entire family by helping write software for them. I fail to see what's so inherently "evil" about that!
A capitalist economy is built around the premise of competition. Apple's business strategy is fundamentally at odds with this economic model -- their strategy is based to the core around monopoly. This monopoly is not complete, but that only means it is less successfully exploitative -- not less exploitative.
Apple hardware does not need to be superior to succeed -- in fact, in terms of price performance it is massively inferior. It succeeds owing to monopoly. Our economic system would collapse if all industries supported the type of monopoly tactics that are available to proprietary software vendors. (The retail market is open to similar exploitation, and the results are becoming progressively more devastating).
This is not a matter of business decisions or even strategy, but of the fundamental business model. Apple makes money by using software to create a hardware monopoly. That is their business model. Without the hardware monopoly, they could not be profitable. They aren't breaking the law. However, there is absolutely no reason, in a free market, to allow certain corporations to withhold the information necessary to allow any competing products to be created. Doing so allows them to make more money, but at the expense of everything that is good about a free market.If I wanted to invest $10M into making a much-improved version of Mac OS X, or Windows XP, this would simply be illegal. Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft, respectively, are free to do such things. This is not free competition in any meaningful sense. The consumer does not have a free choice of who will patch bugs in his operating system, etc. This is not a free market.
Free markets work for commodities. Free markets don't work for monopolies, because in a monopoly there is no market -- there is one supplier. Allowing this one supplier to be free does not provide any of the benefits of allowing an entire market of suppliers to be free.
That can be said about any corporation, any government, or any army.It's a great achievement, and fun to play with, but it's not quite there yet. Maybe in a few months.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
No, I don't think I really did "entirely miss the point". I still beg to differ.
... the money donated to charitable causes by Bill and Melinda Gates .... even the mere fact that they push others to do better... (Say what you like about their products, but I still find it "interesting" that so much effort and interest was generated in the Linux community over finding a way to make a satisfactory "clone/work-alike" of Outlook, and to achieve inter-operability with Microsoft Exchange server. If the MS product was so "evil" or even "poor quality", why try so hard to clone it or work along-side of it?)
While you couldn't just "invest $10M into making a much-improved version of Mac OS X or Windows XP" - you're entirely free to invest that money in development of a *competing OS* that runs on the same hardware. That's exactly what "free competition" is all about! There was a time, not all that long ago, when IBM held "all the cards" for computer operating systems, and Microsoft was the "little guy" building an alternative. In the computer industry, there appears to only really be room for one or two "top dogs" at a time. (Probably becausse most people value interoperability/compatibility very highly.) If you build the "favorite OS" and achieve market dominance, you'll get to keep it for a while - until someone can truly build the "better mousetrap" and unseat you. I'm convinced that OS/2 could have unseated Windows and taken that market back over if IBM put a little more money and focus towards it. I'm also convinced that Linux isn't destined to unseat Windows any time in the forseeable future, because its greatest strengths lie more in the "server side" than the "workstation side" of things. (If anything, it'll eventually swallow up Novell Netware though.)
The popular statement that Apple's or Microsoft's business model is about being a "monopoly" seems flawed to me, really. They're both doing what all companies want to do; grow as big and popular as possible. When you build PC hardware and/or software, that often means keeping a tight rein on code changes/fixes. If they let just anyone have the source code and apply patches, the product might become more solid/stable - but it'd open up a whole can of worms about receiving payment for their work. (Imagine all the lawsuits from folks claiming MS or Apple owed them some portion of profit on future sales, because they benefited from their patch or rewrite of part of the code.)
Finally, I still say I see more benefits a corp. like Microsoft brings than negatives. (I fully understand it also has negatives... but we're talking about weighing the plusses and minueses here.) The jobs they create, both directly and indirectly
Oh, you silly open-source devotées. Open source doesn't make it good. AAC outperforms Ogg, and is available for any system that iTunes and iPod work with. Not to mention, the likelihood of finding an Ogg player anywhere but your machine is woefully small.
does it run Linux - oh wait...