[KLUG Advocacy] Mac OS X

[Adam Williams]

> Point of View to be taken here is that your comfort level is with 
> the Linux OS.  You know how it works, you have tweaked it to your
> needs.  I, too, enjoy my Linux boxes, but I also have an Ibook ( I'm
> the person Peter helped).  I am glad to have it.  I respect that it is
> not Linux, although at the fringes it has the makings of linux (BSD,
> whatever).  That my Ibook can relate to my linux boxes natively at the
> **ix level is nice.

We are happy to welcome Apple to the UN*X family,  I just think some of
there claims are over-stretch, and that they jipp'd alot of people
(including the state of michigan) with the laptops I've met.  These
machines were just barely capable of running the OS they were provided
with,  and physically they were a mess.  I certainly hope much has
improved and I don't doubt that "current" iBooks are significantly more
powerful.

> >From: Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam@whitemice.org>
> >To: <advocacy@kalamazoolinux.org>
> > 1. Performance is TERRIBLE!  My AMD K6-2-300 runs GNOME 2 faster than
> > these iBooks run OS/X, it is like swimming in a vat of 80W-90.  The low
> > end hardware Apple sells (or sold) is not up to the task of running its
> > own software, which seems disengenuous.
> Performance is fine with my Ibook, it does what I need as I need it to do it

The author of the article was discussing an older machine, by my
calculations about the same vintage as the ones I've had to deal with. 
For that class of machine I know that he is on the money.

> without balking.  I am not a power user on either platform.  But I also
> think that Gnome2 works well(faster) with Redhat than KDE3 does on Redhat,
> and that KDE3 works well(faster) with Suse than Gnome2 does on Suse.  At
> this point in time I don't know about a seperate desktop environment for
> OSX, therefore Aqua is the only choice at the moment.  But for speed,
> nothing boots, runs, shuts down nearly as fast as as my Win98 (First
> Edition) box (nothing need to be stated here, it is a remnant).

Sure, but I think he balked becuase it was the OS made by the people who
made the hardware, and sold to be used on that hardware, and the only
supported OS on that hardware. 

> > "To be honest, I only really wanted to play with Apples for the
> > hardware. Apple hardware is, in my opinion, the best manufactured and
> > designed hardware bar-none. Macs are sexy, cool and hell, they last for
> > years."
> > 3. Please!  In my reckoning the iBook is the crappiest laptop ever
> > made.  I've seen keys fall off, *KEYBOARDS* fall off, displays that need
> > to be propped open, power supply connects that have to be wiggled till
> > "Oh! The little lightning bar appeared. Pheeew!".  And the iMac?  I'm
> > sorry but this claim is totally bogus;  Apple hardware is cheap and
> > crumby.  I've been REALLY disappointed.
> Although I have not owned many laptops,  this is by no means the crappiest
> laptop ever made.  Your interaction with the Ibook has been subpar.  

Entirely possible, but there are no group of people better equipped to
test hardware than public school teachers.

> Why?
> Maybe it was not the Ibook, but your expectation of it based on the
> abilities your linux laptops have with your knowledge of them and how to
> make them bend to your wishes.  Hardware wise, anytime there is a leap to
> something new, there are always weaknesses in them.  How many OS's could do

My gripe with the hardware was that it didn't hold up; the keyboards
especially, they seem almost disposable.  Again, Apple may really have
improved quality since the TTI filled its warehouse with these things. 
But, IMHO, the iBooks I've met shouldn't have passed initial field
testing.

> USB flawlessly when it first came out,  IEEE**** (Firewire) ????, DVD ???

Despite lots of problems with sound all the hardware on these has always
worked, I'll give them that.  Up until the screen goes blitz (happened
to at least 3 out of 18 in the first 12 months).

> All the key, keyboard, power supply problems are found on PC based machines.
> Search the web for those detractors to the PC based laptops.

True, but so many problems in such as small pool seems unreasonable.  We
(Morrison Industries) have had LOTS of problems with laptops, but always
specific - Toshibas that spontaneously turn off, Dells with screens that
die, etc... most have had one glaring flaw.

> > "I had forgotten to hold down the 'C' key as the machine booted up. (did
> > I mention I'd only been using my iBook three months? ;-)"
> > 4. Speaking of intuitive... A PC says "Press <F2> to enter setup" during
> > the initial part of the boot sequence.  I had to call tech support to
> > find out HOW TO BOOT FROM AN ALTERNATIVE DRIVE.  Would a "Hold the 'C'
> > key to manually select boot device" message be that difficult?  That is
> > what I call intuitive, telling me what I need to know when I need to
> > know it.
> A PC wasn't built for one particular OS,  therefore setup prior to OS became
> a potential issue, hence the press "whatever" to enter setup.  Apple has/had
> no intention of having any other OS on their platform.

True, and probably the more people who don't know the "Hold C thing" the
happier Apple is.

> I respect your opinion and your knowledge about the Linux OS, and others.
> But, as is true in all things, we all apply our biases to our opinions.  I
> will advocate to the best of my ability that Linux should become the OS of
> choice to all, but it is not and will not be ready for all until a
> "uniformity" exist in the Linux community. But we know that the flexibility
> of linux is where its power lies.  I then would rather have someone using

I'm not advocating the use of Linux on the iBook, just that Apple should
be (or should have been) more honest with that generation of hardware.  

I use AIX on PPC boxes and love the PPC platform, it beats the PC
platform silly when it comes to "just making sense".  But the quality of
Apple hardware that I've met has left me skeptical of that particular
branch of PPC.

> the Mac OSX than using Win"anything".  

Absolutely.

> I am in no way knowledgable enough to fight for why OSX is better than
> linux, but I also don't think that is true.

I don't think that is the issue.  I'm happy to have OSX users around;
doesn't mean I don't think Apple sucks as a company.  I'm far more
interested in see-ing people switch away from M$-Office than what OS use
(in the end I suspect that makes a much bigger difference).

> My experience with the Ibook has been good and I would encorage people from
> both the Win** world and the Linux world to try one out for themselves.

If someone buys me one I'll be happy to put it through its paces. :)