[NTLUG:Discuss] Mac v. Linux

[Burton Strauss]

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org] On Behalf
Of Steve Baker
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 12:29 PM
To: NTLUG Discussion List
Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Mac v. Linux

<snip />

> 3) Other long-time Mac developers who were bitten by the 68k->PPC
transition
>    should have learned valuable lessons about keeping their code portable.

Want to bet?  NEVER under estimate stupidity.  Nor attribute to malice that
which can be explained my stupidity.

<snip />

> I doubt there will be any problems porting Linux to an Intel Mac - but
Windows relies on a lot of old legacy junk that the Intel Mac may well not
support.

Not really - have you seen the legacy free PCs Compaq et al make?  There's a
PCI video card and USB ports for keyboard/mouse.

> Apple's problem is that they are computer manufacturers.  If their
hardware is 'just another PC', then the relatively high price of Mac
hardware will put them in direct competition with the Dell's and Gateway's
of this world.

Yup!  For all that people trumpet Java, they forget that it exists SOLELY
and AS LONG AS it sells Sun Servers.  If you could clearly demonstrate that
Java did NOT sell Sun products, Sun would open it up or dump it in a heart
beat.


<snip />

> > I can see a future where there are three viable desktop OS choices - 
> > Windows, Mac and Solaris - all running on the same cheap Chinese
hardware.

> That presumes that Apple wish to become a software company - and I don't
see any signs of that.

Except that we agree there's no profit in being a hardware company.


> If that's what they intended then their first announcement would be MacOS
for PC's...and that's not what they've announced.

Yes, but Sun has been delusional for years and years...

> > And then there's the oddballs - Linux and the *BSDs.  Which will be 
> > used by a few die-hards but mostly by people who have cars in their 
> > front yards sitting on cinderblocks.

> I doubt Linux will fall far behind MacOS - and I'm quite sure Solaris
won't be a bigger force than Linux on the desktop...that seems
inconceivable.

A lot of ISVs and vertical market software are tied into Solaris.  If Sun
doesn't screw up Open Solaris too badly, don't count it out...  Remember, if
you want to buy it all from a single source, your choices are:

 IBM (AIX)
 HP  (HP-UX)
 Sun (Solaris)

<snip />

-----Burton