[NTLUG:Discuss] Mac v. Linux... Sub-Question

[Andrew Brown]

So then do you think the Apple move to Intel based hardware could serve to 
push Linux out and move Apple back in? 

MS then stays on top and everyone in $$$$'ville is happy. 

Wrestling over the little open market share in the desktop marketplace is 
going to make things very interesting. Diversions make little inroads into 
entrenched positions like the one that MS carries. MS has its fans and Apple 
has its fans. The disenchanted seem to be the remaining share. With Apple 
offering better GUI, software packages out of the box like MS Office, all the 
perks, bells and whistles of the Unix file form, and as the cost for Hardware 
drops with the move into Intel hardware... there could be a challenge to 
Linux. Besides their boxes are pretty cool... ha

The good is that this will put a fire under the fannies of the developers in 
Linux to get the Desktop moving or get moving out. MS can stay in the safe 
harbor of branding while Apple moves in to pick up the folks that have fled 
MS for a better system. Linux though may yet be relegated to the land of the 
basement techie... 

Should we not forget though that Linux is the bulwark for OpSource Software? 
Without the Linux playground the current trends into OpSource may not be so 
viable. The server market being the strength for Linux development, where is 
the future? Does Apple come in and move Linux out and we just forget about 
the possibilities of the Desktop? No answers needed....

It is all hype and where it goes no body knows, but freedom from Corporate 
control is what got the Linux ball moving to where it is today. So here we 
are... do we go back to an Apple/MS world or ....

AB

On Tuesday 07 June 2005 3:56 pm, MontyS at videopost.com wrote:
> This is just my opinion...
>
> Mac OSX should be looked at like Linux-lite.  Mac doesn't have the toolset
> that you are use to seeing in your standard linux distribution.  However,
> Macs are quite stable, and their GUI is very user friendly.  Their
> os/hardware package is far superior to Microsoft's offerings.  Heck, the
> same could be said during Apple's Classic days.  Expecially 9.x.
>
> If I could get a desktop system that is Mac OSX based for the price of a
> Windows box, I would do it in a heartbeat.  I bet you most others would as
> well.  It all just depends on how Apple prices out their hardware.  That
> has been their problem all along.  Clearly they know how to market their
> products...
>
> At the end of the day, I wonder if much will change at all.  I doubt that
> Apple is going to become a software-only company.  They are still going to
> require 64bit dual-processors, they will still put their systems in artsy
> boxes, and they will still mark up their prices by a huge amount, although
> they have become more reasonable as time has passed.
>
> The only way Apple will become a factor in the desktop market is if they
> sell their os in a box, and you can install it on generic hardware.  Order
> a Dell computer with Mac OSX software.  Other than that, this is just a
> repeat of a few years ago when Apple left Motorola for IBM.
>
> I still think that most people would move over to Linux if it was easier to
> install and get around.  I mean easy for non-technical people.  For
> instance, to do simple things like play Quicktimes or WMP files, you have
> to jump through hoops.  MP3's?  More hoops.  These are just examples of
> what normal, everyday people want to be able to do by a click of the mouse.
>
> That being said, let's face it:  The companies that have the money to do
> major marketing, like the RedHat's, IBM's Novell's have seemed to give up
> trying to market their wares to the desktop user.  One could easily argue
> they never even tried.  The vast majority of people have never seen a Mac.
> Even fewer have seen Linux.
>
> Oh well, I digress.  Again, just my opinion...
>
> Monty
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Brown [mailto:dutch_fedora at comcast.net]
> Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 1:23 PM
> To: NTLUG Discussion List
> Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] Mac v. Linux
>
>
> Well the hoopla is a hoopin' over the Mac to Intel move. Been reading some
> articles today about how this may impact Linux. Some of the "pundents" seem
> to see this as more a challenge to Linux than to MS as Mac OS is the "best
> of
> breed" Unix system.
>
> Now I have used Mac ever so lightly and as such I cannot directly speak to
> this as fact or fiction, but would love to read some input from "actual"
> users on how this may impact Linux.
>
> Thoughts and insight are appreciated!
>
> AB
>
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