tbray.org— A Mac user who switched to Ubuntu has switched back. He talks about the pros and cons of each OS and what made him switch in the first place.
Oct 11, 2006View in Crawl 4
I have multiple PowerPC (G4 and G5) macs and have been aching to switch to Linux for years. BeOS had given me a taste of what a performer PowerPC could be, but I knew it wasn't going to live very long because nobody was developing for it because nobody was using it. As a matter of fact, I was about to completely ditch Mac OS back in 1999-2000 for LinuxPPC when Apple pre-announced OS X. I thought I'd at least stick around to try out Apple's UNIX. OS X was solid and a boost to productivity over Mac OS 9, but, over time, I tried various Linux distros and dreamt of a day when I could ditch all the unnecessary bells and whistles and expensive applications and hardware of OS X. But, over time, Linux just never had everything I needed for getting my work done.Now Ubuntu comes along and it's damn close... but still not there. And now processors and graphics cards and OS upgrades have made OS X a screamer even WITH the bells and whistles - plus Apple's hardware is actually more than price-competitive, now. I have my PowerBook set to dual boot Ubuntu and OS X, but I'm finding that I just never find reason to boot into Ubuntu.
OS X, like the hardware on which it runs, has the "look and feel" going for it, no matter how it runs underneath or if it runs well.Ubuntu might run well for an OS, or it might even run better than OS X, but it doesn't have a distinctive "look and feel" to it that sets it apart from the 299 other Linux distros.If you can give a user the illusion that he can do anything within the desktop, or that he's using apps which can't be used as well on his usual OS, he'll believe it. OS X gives that illusion to me, and does it very well.Ubuntu just doesn't have a GUI that sets itself apart from the other distros, and definately not one that compares to that of OS X. Maybe a cue should be taken from the Mezzo Desktop.<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzo_(desktop_environment)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzo_(desktop_environment)</a>
osakawilsonOct 12, 2006
Poster not understand article. Poster need read again. Maybe author need use easier words. Author not made up mind yet.
duzbinOct 12, 2006
How I would judge (I'm not going to go into detail)Mac OS X vs. Ubuntu...Mac OS XMac OS X vs. Linux...LinuxI disagree with just about everything he said.If he is complaining about cmd-tab on a mac, he has obviously never tried Exposé.I could probably go on for ever listing reasons Linux, or Mac OS X are better, but I'm not going to..I like them both, a lot.
davidod87Oct 12, 2006
Oh noes!11 No Flash either!!1
moofthestoofOct 13, 2006
I have multiple PowerPC (G4 and G5) macs and have been aching to switch to Linux for years. BeOS had given me a taste of what a performer PowerPC could be, but I knew it wasn't going to live very long because nobody was developing for it because nobody was using it. As a matter of fact, I was about to completely ditch Mac OS back in 1999-2000 for LinuxPPC when Apple pre-announced OS X. I thought I'd at least stick around to try out Apple's UNIX. OS X was solid and a boost to productivity over Mac OS 9, but, over time, I tried various Linux distros and dreamt of a day when I could ditch all the unnecessary bells and whistles and expensive applications and hardware of OS X. But, over time, Linux just never had everything I needed for getting my work done.Now Ubuntu comes along and it's damn close... but still not there. And now processors and graphics cards and OS upgrades have made OS X a screamer even WITH the bells and whistles - plus Apple's hardware is actually more than price-competitive, now. I have my PowerBook set to dual boot Ubuntu and OS X, but I'm finding that I just never find reason to boot into Ubuntu.
raynevandunemOct 22, 2006
OS X, like the hardware on which it runs, has the "look and feel" going for it, no matter how it runs underneath or if it runs well.Ubuntu might run well for an OS, or it might even run better than OS X, but it doesn't have a distinctive "look and feel" to it that sets it apart from the 299 other Linux distros.If you can give a user the illusion that he can do anything within the desktop, or that he's using apps which can't be used as well on his usual OS, he'll believe it. OS X gives that illusion to me, and does it very well.Ubuntu just doesn't have a GUI that sets itself apart from the other distros, and definately not one that compares to that of OS X. Maybe a cue should be taken from the Mezzo Desktop.<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzo_(desktop_environment)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzo_(desktop_environment)</a>