When it comes to the lesser of the two evils of Microsoft and Apple, I
choose Linux. Too many evils in the world have occurred when someone
[some country] chooses to align itself with the underdog of a power
struggle, just because they don't seem quite as bad as the big power. It
has happened in world politics, and it has happened in the tech industry
(Microsoft vs. IBM, as Dustin pointed out). I could go through your list
of Microsoft evils and point out areas where Apple has acted similarly,
but I think the big point is that: if Apple had the position to, it
would behave as bad, or worse than Microsoft has. Only, in that world,
They'd have a stranglehold not only on software, but hardware.
My motivations are free code, not killing Microsoft. If Microsoft
decided tomorrow that they're going to GPL every piece of code, every
standard they've come up with, then I'll be the first to go out and buy
a Microsoft T-shirt. But any company that makes a business out of
squashing open source isn't going to receive my active support.
-Tim
PS. I guess that's a little heavy on the ranting. Apple does make
interesting hardware, and their OS technically has some interesting
ideas in it. I'll probably even load OS X on that iMac that's collecting
dust in the corner of my office one day, just to poke around in it out
of curiosity. I just have no interest in supporting Apple's long-term
survival, considering their current philosophies.
On Thu, 2001-10-25 at 23:28, John Hebert wrote:
> --- Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > So, essentially you are saying it's acceptable to
> > choose the lesser of two
> > evils? Not that I think Apple is evil, but I think
> > this makes for a good
> > point.
>
> Sure, especially when you weigh the relative "evils"
> that are Apple and Micro$oft:
>
> Apple:
> - sued some developers for creating an "Aqua"-based
> theme for Xfree86 in violation of Apple's copyright.
>
> Micro$oft:
> - Jim Allchin, VP of Operating Systems, claims: "The
> GPL is un-American."
> - Proposes that Linux and other open source based
> operating systems are inherently less secure because
> hackers can look at the source code.
> - "Embraces and extends" Kerberos on Win2K so that it
> is incompatible with Kerberos implementations on other
> operating systems.
> - Microsoft Tech Support
> - The DMCA
> - The BSOD
> - Bill Gates gives diabolism workshops in Hell to
> Satan and the major heirarchy of demons. Wins the
> coveted "Really Mean Guy" medal.
> - Steve Ballmer's ego.
> - Bill Gates whiney voice.
> - "Micro$oft Bob"
> - etc, etc, etc.
>
> Ok, maybe M$ Bob wasn't that bad, and sure, I'm
> leaving out stuff that Apple and Steve Jobs pulled,
> but Wozinak makes up for a hell of a lot of mistakes
> on Apple's part. I mean the guy is like a geek saint
> or something. Not like that wackass nutcase RMS ("St.
> IGNUtius" my aft deck). He spooks me. He looks too
> much like Rasputin. Whereas Woz looks like a big fuzzy
> Barney the Dinosaur, except skin colored. And hairier.
>
> Um.... what was your question?
>
> John
>
> ps: Seriously, ABM ("Anything But Microsoft").
> Microsoft is a monopoly. It was decided and then
> upheld in court. Having one corporation's closed
> operating system on the majority of computers on the
> planet is not a recipe for innovation. It is a recipe
> for fewer choices.
>
> Let me present a metaphor: Let's say operating systems
> are like political parties. When you have a couple of
> parties, you sometimes have to choose the lesser of
> two evils. When you have three or more parties with
> fairly equal numbers of members, you have many choices
> that can suit the individual's political ideas and
> tastes. When you have just one party in power, what is
> that called?
>
> Who the hell is Allchin to call open source
> un-American?
>
> Americans have been sharing their ideas and work for a
> long time before Micro$oft came along. Can you imagine
> the Quakers copyrighting their beautifully crafted
> chairs? No, the idea is ludricous, because they didn't
> _need_ to protect their chairs. Anybody was welcome to
> copy their design. But if you didn't have the skills
> or attention to detail that the Quakers had, you ended
> up with a chair that just didn't last. The Quakers
> competed, literally, on the strength of the product.
>
> Ok, now I'm done ranting for the night.
>
> John
>
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Behalf Of John Hebert
> > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 6:10 PM
> > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Subject: Re: [brluglist] Any LinuxPPC/OSX/BSD/Mac
> > geeks out there?
> > >
> > >
> > > In light of what M$ has done/said towards the Open
> > > Source community, I can forgive Apple for wanting
> > to
> > > sue ppl for Aqua-based themes. I'm not happy about
> > it,
> > > but I see M$ as being a much bigger threat to open
> > > source.
> > >
> > > John Hebert
> > >
> > > --- Tim Fournet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > > > I'm hoping to generate more interest in Mac
> > OSX in
> > > > the
> > > > > BRLUG, since it is UNIX at its core. The move
> > by
> > > > Apple
> > > > > to an open source based kernel was one of the
> > > > biggest
> > > > > events in the last few years to support the
> > open
> > > > > source movement. I am very surprised that
> > there
> > > > hasn't
> > > > > been more excitement about it in the open
> > source
> > > > > community. The PowerPC chip is very fast for
> > the
> > > > > price: I paid $100 for the PowerMac 8500
> > (128MB
> > > > RAM,
> > > > > 8GB ext drive) and monitor. I plan to make it
> > a
> > > > > development server running either Linux for
> > PPC or
> > > > > OSX.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Although they've based their OS on an Open
> > Source
> > > > kernel, Apple has been
> > > > pretty good at alienating the Open Source
> > community
> > > > since (and before)
> > > > the release of OS X. Threats to sue creators of
> > OS
> > > > X-like XFree86 themes
> > > > is the biggest example I can think of now. I've
> > also
> > > > heard reported that
> > > > Apple has made their UNIX 'easy' by setting a
> > lot of
> > > > binaries setuid
> > > > root. Maybe the benefits the OSS community can
> > > > receive by this is by
> > > > getting more users to eventually move to a Free
> > OS.
> > > >
> > > > -Tim
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
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