On Jul 27, 2010, at 1:39 AM, Chris Knadle wrote: > I get the "just works" argument. Unfortunately Linux and OS X are not on a > level playing field in that area because OS X is only meant to run on Apple- > made hardware, meaning that they know ahead of time what devices they have to > support in the OS for the computer itself. > [...] > Another thing to keep in mind is that when you purchase hardware for a Mac > you > often have to buy the "Mac" version of the device, such as video cards or > scanners, yet there are no "Linux" versions of the same devices. That there > is a "Mac" version of these things makes them easier to buy and know that > they're supported, but again it means that Linux and OS X are not on a level > playing field there.
I think, at the end of the day, that this is a smart design decision by Apple. Instead of allowing themselves to get sucked into the "which cheap POS asian video card is out today" game, they don't have to worry about any of that nonsense, and can focus on the parts of the OS that matter instead of trying to diagnose obscure bugs that only show up on slightly off-spec video cards, or whatever. And by not needing to use buckets of third-party drivers (to bypass that problem the Microsoft way), they end up with a more stable platform. _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Aug 4 - Samba Sep 1 - BOINC Oct 6 - Creating Firefox Extensions
