I guess most of the people who know me even remotely know that I’ve gotten into iPads and iPhones and Macs and such lately. Part of this has to do with work, actually, as I’m currently tasked with writing software for the iPhone/iPad devices (which is a pain to write, so I refer to them as i*s or iStars). I spent the last couple of weeks in the United States with a MacBook Pro, my iPhone and my iPad as my only available computers, and as such, I was more or less forced to adapt to the Mac way of doing things. It’s not that bad, actually, once you get over the fact it’s NOT a variant of Windows but a whole separate system altogether.
I’ve been a linux user for the last decade. More, even. I’ve had brief encounters with Windows, most of them horrific, all of them resulting in me eventually giving up and going back to linux, and none of them in the last 5+ years. I hear Windows is getting better, but as we say in Sweden, “bränt barn skyr elden*,” and I’ve come to the realization that I will most likely never use Windows again, even though I’m pleased to hear it’s shapening up after all these years.
One might say I’m a hard-to-please customer. Some might even accuse me of being the worst kind ever. I whine about things that don’t do their jobs, and even if they’re open source and free as in liberty, it doesn’t mean I won’t complain when they can’t do their jobs properly. I recently spew pus over PulseAudio and Ubuntu 9.10 — the worst experience since 1990 — and I stand by what I said, but in the end, I love linux, and it’s unfair to blame it all on the system, when there are so many factors out of the developers’ control.
Hardware manufacturers couldn’t give less of a fuck about linux, unless they’re making server-specific hardware.
Software manufacturers couldn’t give less of a fuck about linux, unless they’re making server-specific software.
It makes for a really ugly scene, sometimes, and people have to jump through living lions while spinning firey globes of radioactive customs officers through quality assurance managers. It’s messy, and it takes hours and pain, lots of both.
And this is an ongoing perpetual circle, where new hardware and new software clashes and collides over and over, year in and year out, in the uphill battle that is the linux desktop scene.
One of the most annoying things about being a linux user isn’t necessarily that hardware and software manufacturers piss in your corn flakes. It can be really frustrating when you’re struggling to get something working and someone goes, “Why are you using that piece of shit anyway. Linux sucks man. Just install Windows.”
Twitch. I mean, dude. Twitch. I don’t think there’s anyone out there as defensive and protective of their operating system as the linux user. We’re the first to take offense when someone tells us linux sucks. You tell a Windows user that Windows sucks and the most probable reply you’ll get is, “Uh-huh, I know that.**”
Sigh. So retarded. Well, I’ve gotten better about that, and these days I don’t have an agenda against anyone. I just know what works for me and what doesn’t, and whatever works for you, you should stick to. I still get picked on for my choice of OS though, playfully of course, and so the last couple of weeks my guilty pleasure has been to say things like:
“Damn, handbrake seems full of win. And it’s available for linux too. (And Windows, but who cares..)”
on Twitter. Which is fed to Google’s Buzz, which appears for some of the people who tend to poke fun at me. Now I’m poking back. 
Joke aside, it’s interesting how the tables have turned. One of my best friends who’s a hardcore Windows user (and a skilled tech guy at that) and I have been discussing the whole linux/Windows deal for more or less ten years, and suddenly I’m waving my i*s around and talking about the innovative and prosperous market, while he’s pointing to Android and upcoming tablets that will potentially turn the tide on Apple’s tidal wave of domination. He’s suddenly wielding the open source cap and I’m wielding the closed source proprietary cap. And it happened overnight! Granted, his change isn’t as dramatic as mine — he’s simply opposed to the Mac experience, and will grab at anything that means not having to use a Mac (including some of the Win7 devices that are closing in on the market). In my case it’s a little more extreme, but in the end, I’m just excited about a rare opportunity. In the end, I do not believe the i*s will control the market, but I believe they will lead the way, and I’m excited to be a part of that process, even if it’s an unsignificant part.
—
(* “burnt child fears fire”)
(** except for that one guy in Wisconsin who got real offensive about Windows when *I* said it sucked; never mind me being a hypocrite, but I was completely taken by surprise by this reaction, and immediately labeled him a confused patriot thinking Windows somehow was connected to the pride of America)
Update: timely — MS cancels their “iPad killer”: http://gizmodo.com/5527442/microsoft-cancels-innovative-courier-tablet-project
It’s good to hear your tales of moving over to the Mac, and of discovering the differences (both good and bad) compared to what you were used to.
For your friend though, I understand about Android, but he wields the open-source cap while continuing to use Windows? That’s a little paradoxical.
While of course there’s no denying the iStars, as you’ve dubbed them (nice, btw), are as closed and proprietary as they come, the same cannot be said of OS X, certainly when put up against the most closed and proprietary OS of them all, Windows. (I would imagine that below the locked-down GUI layer on the iStars, a lot of the underpinnings are still standard UNIX components, like it’s big brother.)
It’s also amusing to hear that Windows Phone 7, despite still being a number of months off, is looking to become as closed and proprietary as the iStars have been. They too obviously see something beneficial in that way of thinking.
Hey Mark!
Regarding my friend: well, it’s not like he’s *actually* going “open source ftw!!” or anything. He’s just saying that there are alternatives out there to the iStars. I doubt he gives a damn that Android is in fact an open source platform, it’s the “alternative” part that matters.
Which I guess is the funny thing about it, because there’s really no alternative to Windows if you want to do gaming etc.
Which is why I’m poking at him (and others) about this all (tongue-in-cheek, of course — love you guys!). *grin*
As for the Win7 mobile, I admit I’m totally un-caught-up on the progress. I just briefly noted that there was a mobile Win7 upcoming, but that’s about it. I’m sure the Windows users are thrilled.
Yes, ironic that.
On the games front, not sure if you’ve heard, but Valve’s Steam is coming to Mac. I’m not a gamer – I have a PS3, but use it for blu-ray films – but it’s good that gaming on Macs could slowly be coming to fruition. You can then push the “hey there’s an alternative to Windows, you know!” back on him, hehe.
Ha! Yep, sure could.
Though I’m sure he’ll comment himself once he sees this after he gets home from work. That, or he’ll grumpily close the window after my flak. *grins*
You’re funny, KB.
Let’s set this all straight, shall we?
I’m da Windows Guru. I make my living at it, and large portions of my recreation are on it. You’ve profited from the goodness of the free market for Windows apps for quite some time while you emulated it on Linux.. and I suspect if your transition to the fruits stays true, you’ll continue to emulate windows software on Apple, too.
I have never liked Apple. Not back in antiquity when they pervaded the school systems here in the U.S., and schools tried to force us to learn to use them (despite them having no market share or business applications in the real world), and not when I had to support them in the test development.
I have grown to admire the iPod, but my argument is simply that the iPod has been successful despite Apple’s efforts to crush it. It’s got so many possibilities that Apple just refuses to allow to come to fruition. The Android marketplace is maturing behind them, and Jobs’ decision to limit pr0n to only those companies he likes is only going to help alienate Apple’s hardware. Consoles are struggling with similar fates. People simply don’t want to pay the big money for systems with closed/limited access that defies common sense.
FTR, Valve’s Steam is also purportedly coming to Linux, too.. but you still need the developers to make the software. The CD has been around for a very long time, and any developer could put their software on it for Mac and/or PC, but they haven’t.
Sadly, I’m addicted to this little POS iPod Touch in my pocket, and it’s bad enough that I’m eagerly planning to upgrade it to a phone version next year.. but at the same time I’m hoping Android or MS does something huge before then to make me see the sanity!
I’ve definitely profited from Windows apps, but not sure what you mean by “the free market” though. The reason I’ve been able to profit from them (at times, haphazardly or “brokenly” so) is not Windows being free or open or pretty, but the Wine guys literally chopping Windows binaries up like cars at a chop shop, figuring out why and what all the way. You can only get so far using developer docs to recreate a system, which is what they’ve done. So, no, don’t give me “Windows gave me good stuff” talks man. That’s just plain incorrect.
Just look at World of Warcraft for example. Its latest patch (which prompted me to just stop playing, earlier than I had intended) suddenly broke the linux client. Badly. People had to feed tigers to lions and shit just to get it running again and frankly, I didn’t have time nor energy to figure out how to get it running again. An I profiting from the goodness of the free market for Windows? Not so much.
I did not know about Apple and the school systems back in the day. That’s pretty intriguing stuff, though not sure why they managed to pull it off, considering as you say, they had zero market / busiuness applications. I’d personally blame that on the school boards rather than Apple, but I’d probably hate on them too if it’d been me.
As for iStars/Android, I’m hoping the latter will spring forward and outwin the former at some point. But you know what? I’ve been thinking Linux will outrun Windows “any year now” for the last 10 years. Yes, you may laugh now. I guess the only difference is, Android is lead by a corporation (Google) whereas Linux never really was. Not holding my breath on this one, though.
As for porn, well, not sure what you mean by limiting, unless you’re talking App Store. But then, what, porn games? Videos, images, etc. you can just put on there through iTunes, no?
Not sure what “CD” stands for in your case above, but the fact Steam is coming out for the Mac “soon” indicates it’s not possible yet to release games for the Mac. Unless, of course, Steam is coming up with a way to RUN PC-compiled games via Steam on Macs. In which case they’ve struck gold, presuming it’s not laggy/slow/bad.
But back to the iStars though, I personally am going to ride this one until it collapses beneath my feet, but I’m looking forward to every moment of it. I’m by no means a fan-boy (if I was, I’d never blasphemously say it’d EVER FAIL), but I know where the arrows are pointing (quoting Dave, though can’t recall his last name right now).