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Could Apple's Intel Desktop Threaten Linux?
esavard writes "
If Linux enthusiasts don't want
Mac OSX on Intel to become a threat
for the future of Linux Desktop, they must rethink the concept of Desktop as we know it today.
Symphony OS did exactly that and propose some fresh concepts about how a desktop should and should not be.
If you want to know more about Symphony OS, a good starting point is a Wikipedia article
describing the innovations proposed by this new desktop OS. The Linux Desktop Community must encourage such initatives
massively to compete against Mac OSX and Windows."
For many of us, Linux will likely never be able to compete against OS X for one simple reason:
Most anything worthwhile that you can do in Linux, you can also do in OS X, and often much more easily. The reverse isn't *close* to being true.
OS X is what Linux dreams of one day being. Why not use what Linux *may* have in 10 years, today?
Apple Computer, Inc. (AAPL), beset by angry creditors and faced with not only severe G5 production problems but also a chaotic transition to a new architecture, is on the verge of bankruptcy and total collapse. Apple continues to nosedive into oblivion, as confirmed by industry watchers, investors, and, most painfully, by customers themselves.
As a recent study by Bank of America Securities puts it, Apple ekes out its small existence by peddling new hardware to its existing customers; once those customers are satisfied, Apple will run out of steam . If these disastrous financial forecasts aren't enough, one need only look to Netcraft for confirmation that Apple's market share among Web servers is slowly dwindling down to zero. The market share of Mac OS X is now eclipsed even by that of FreeBSD, another deeply imperiled OS.
But the abysmal server presence of OS X is the least of Apple's worries. Apple's most recent quarterly report indicates a death spiral of cash loss. Indeed, Apple has hemorrhaged some $276 million in the last quarter, while racking up a dizzying $2.4 billion in debt. Revenue from sales of the iPod, the portable music player that is barely keeping Apple afloat in this shipwreck of fiscal woe, declined dramatically, threatening to shrink further an already miniscule lifeline.
Likewise, sales of the eMac, iMac and Power Macintosh G5 lines continue to skid. Apple is unable to secure G5 processors in sufficient numbers to supply its customers with Power Macintosh G5 and iMac computers, as Steve Jobs himself recently admitted, sending Apple stock into a deadly tailspin. The staggering decline in sales numbers confirms it: there is no doubt that one-time Apple customers, dismayed with the floundering ineptitude of their favorite company, have begun turning away in droves, seeking cheaper, faster hardware from manufacturers such as Dell. Apple's frantic effort to regain these customers by shifting to cheap, plentiful Intel processors will not, as many analysts have pointed out, rescue a company already on the brink of disintegration.
Apple teeters on the precipice of doom, one step away from plummeting to its ultimate nadir of bankruptcy, chaos, and implosion. And with the crushing recent news that Steve Jobs has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the forthcoming leadership vacuum and low morale at Apple will only hasten the inevitable. Wise investors will quickly dump AAPL stock and abandon the doomed company, now less than one year away from complete disintegration.
It's time to move to a new platform: Apple is dead.
The part where he says he's going to make OS/X free as in "free beer" because his cold little heart bleeds when he reads that BSD is dying.
People put way too much importance on visibility. I don't know if Linux was ever destined to count itself among the most visible of all platforms. Linux doesn't need that kind of one-on-one attention to fill important niches. I'd be quite happy to see a three way tie take shape: MS for the corporate drones, OS/X for the insecure, and Linux/BSD for those of us who merely want to get from point A to point B without the hype and fanfare.
It takes a certain amount of insecurity to wonder about this prospect in the first place.
Debian's method of package management is quite excellent. All you've demonstrated is that apt-get might not be the right tool for a obstinate cluebie. All that proves is perhaps you don't have the chops to deal with a CLI and minor roadbumps and should instead use the available shiny-happy-gui tool instead.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Interesting. Perhaps someday OS X will catch up with Synaptic (based on apt) package manager for Linux, where all you have to do is click a checkbox for the program you want, and click "Apply".
And maybe someday Synaptic's database will be up-to-date and complete.
-mkb
And all you're proving is that Linux users are clueless patronizing fuckwits who don't even understand the nature of the problem.
You have to be root to install ANY package. That was his complaint.
Do you think Microsoft would release Office/Mac/Intel if OS X would run on commodity hardware?
Do you think you're an idiot? I sure do.
God, you stupid fuck!
If you can't see why Apple doesn't want to give up what it's got and play at being an OS vender then you should go an kill yourself now.
And how exactly is OS X gonna magically just run on any old x86 box? Darwin can, and does - but OS X is an entirely differnet matter.
I'm constantly astounded by how many clueless idiots there are amongst the 'technical litterati' here on slashdot. I'd say about 80% are school kids or full-grown morons.
Sheesh!
I can't think of the last thing that wasn't in Debian that I wanted to install. Sorry, try again.
You haven't tried to get Java running on Ubuntu, have you?
-mkb