Because:
1. Apple was concentrating on building a consumer operating system and didn't want to build on a moving target, so it restricted itself to one version. Writing a modern consumer OS with a GUI and other nice things like quartz and aqua and whatever is far more difficult than some server unix distro with a CLI.
2. I imagine they just took the stabelest and most secure version they could find and newer versions are often not trouble free, because of the new not yet matured and in real life tested code.
It is really quite simple. You wonder: is Mac OS X the largest unix distro? Go count the figures.
Microsoft has a 90 percent marketshare, Apple has 5 percent and all the Unix versions (AIX, HP/UX, Solaris, ***BSD and the many linuxes) combined have another 5 percent marketshare. Since Apple is now shipping all macs with os x installed (wether people actually start using it instead of keeping hanging around in mac os 9 is a different issue), it must be the largest unix distro by now because it has about as much marketshare as all other unices combined.
Further more: Apple sold loads of cd's too.
Considering the fact that the company has sold more than 10 million Macs that are able to run os x (G3 and G4) in the last couple of years, and quite a number of those users (that is the impression one gets in the newsgroups and all) has been running os x (either a licensed copy or a illegal one), I think we are talking quite a big distro here...
This is no strange thing. Their unix has been tweeked and interfaced to be understandable for mere mortals (the 95 percent of the population that doesn't understand and doesnt' want to understand Unix CLI).
Well, at least they did it 2 years ago. The Dark Side still has to wait for XP to have support in the OS for 802.11.
Anyway, what's wrong with fancy enclosures? Life is already ugly it is, why make it worse with the Wintel trash?
Revolutionary? Is that why the Airport base
station is nothing more than a Lucent/Orinoco bronze 802.11b PCMCIA card in a fancy
enclosure?
Airport is nothing more than slightly-repackaged normal 802.11b, which was around (and also as 802.11) a long time before Apple thought of including it in their products.
Everything is better than the Dark Side
on
A Few Baaaaaad Apples
·
· Score: 0, Troll
I do not own an iBook and won't be buying one, because I am perfectly happy with my 33 Mhz 68030 Pb 150, when it comes to sitting down somewhere with a machine. The fancy stuff I do on my desktop.
But if I were to buy a brand new laptop I would buy either an ibook or a Titanium, because I refuse to buy anything from the probes from the Dark Side.
If I would go out and buy stuff from Dell, Compaq or any other uninnovative pusher of mostly very ugly hardware, I would also pay for the Windows shit they install on it.
In doing that I will supporting an evil empire that has no other goal than complete control over ALL information.
Besides, as many may know, Apple machinery lasts longer and is far more easy to use.
And on top of that, those Macs have all the technology you need for the coming 5 years built in: 802.11, Firewire (iLink), USB and they can run the best operating system on this planet: Mac OS X.
USB, Firewire and 802.11 are already in the ibook... The last one being optional (you can add a card for that).
>As to the need for PC card slots...
>They are a way of 'future proofing' your >computer. They really can help extend the >lifespan of your computer.
>Sure, you have a 10/100 and 56k built in - but >what about next year's tech?
>A perfect example would be 802.11b - 3 years ago, >no one had heard of it, now it's commonplace. >Thanks to PC card slots, you can easily add that >technology to your laptop.
>The same goes for USB and Firewire... now they >are commonplace, but not on older machines. You >can easily add them via PC cards.>
>The iBook, 3 or 4 years from now, will be a lot >less viable due to Apple's ommission of the PC >card slot.
>Finally, I will point out 56k internal modems are >standard on almost every PC laptop, and internal >10/100 can be had on many as well (Leaving you >with 2 free PC card slots).
Slashdot Mirror
What about the great flood in the Bible? Seems like a good written story from that time.
Because: 1. Apple was concentrating on building a consumer operating system and didn't want to build on a moving target, so it restricted itself to one version. Writing a modern consumer OS with a GUI and other nice things like quartz and aqua and whatever is far more difficult than some server unix distro with a CLI. 2. I imagine they just took the stabelest and most secure version they could find and newer versions are often not trouble free, because of the new not yet matured and in real life tested code.
Yeah, well considering the fact that the largest unix distro (OS X) is BSD based I don't think you say it is that dead...
It is really quite simple. You wonder: is Mac OS X the largest unix distro? Go count the figures. Microsoft has a 90 percent marketshare, Apple has 5 percent and all the Unix versions (AIX, HP/UX, Solaris, ***BSD and the many linuxes) combined have another 5 percent marketshare. Since Apple is now shipping all macs with os x installed (wether people actually start using it instead of keeping hanging around in mac os 9 is a different issue), it must be the largest unix distro by now because it has about as much marketshare as all other unices combined. Further more: Apple sold loads of cd's too. Considering the fact that the company has sold more than 10 million Macs that are able to run os x (G3 and G4) in the last couple of years, and quite a number of those users (that is the impression one gets in the newsgroups and all) has been running os x (either a licensed copy or a illegal one), I think we are talking quite a big distro here... This is no strange thing. Their unix has been tweeked and interfaced to be understandable for mere mortals (the 95 percent of the population that doesn't understand and doesnt' want to understand Unix CLI).
Well, at least they did it 2 years ago. The Dark Side still has to wait for XP to have support in the OS for 802.11. Anyway, what's wrong with fancy enclosures? Life is already ugly it is, why make it worse with the Wintel trash? Revolutionary? Is that why the Airport base station is nothing more than a Lucent/Orinoco bronze 802.11b PCMCIA card in a fancy enclosure? Airport is nothing more than slightly-repackaged normal 802.11b, which was around (and also as 802.11) a long time before Apple thought of including it in their products.
I do not own an iBook and won't be buying one, because I am perfectly happy with my 33 Mhz 68030 Pb 150, when it comes to sitting down somewhere with a machine. The fancy stuff I do on my desktop. But if I were to buy a brand new laptop I would buy either an ibook or a Titanium, because I refuse to buy anything from the probes from the Dark Side. If I would go out and buy stuff from Dell, Compaq or any other uninnovative pusher of mostly very ugly hardware, I would also pay for the Windows shit they install on it. In doing that I will supporting an evil empire that has no other goal than complete control over ALL information. Besides, as many may know, Apple machinery lasts longer and is far more easy to use. And on top of that, those Macs have all the technology you need for the coming 5 years built in: 802.11, Firewire (iLink), USB and they can run the best operating system on this planet: Mac OS X.
USB, Firewire and 802.11 are already in the ibook... The last one being optional (you can add a card for that). >As to the need for PC card slots... >They are a way of 'future proofing' your >computer. They really can help extend the >lifespan of your computer. >Sure, you have a 10/100 and 56k built in - but >what about next year's tech? >A perfect example would be 802.11b - 3 years ago, >no one had heard of it, now it's commonplace. >Thanks to PC card slots, you can easily add that >technology to your laptop. >The same goes for USB and Firewire... now they >are commonplace, but not on older machines. You >can easily add them via PC cards.> >The iBook, 3 or 4 years from now, will be a lot >less viable due to Apple's ommission of the PC >card slot. >Finally, I will point out 56k internal modems are >standard on almost every PC laptop, and internal >10/100 can be had on many as well (Leaving you >with 2 free PC card slots).