Walking around Linuxworld this year it was interesting to see the number of Apple notebooks in the halls and various sessions. It wasn’t necessarily that there were more Apple notebooks than Linux machines, but it was a good number and begs the question: why do open source people seem to cut Apple some slack when it comes to their very closed proprietary platform?
The question can be answered by thinking of operating systems like prison. For decades, operating systems have been trying to lock users into their platforms. Think of it like an operating system prison. But what if operating systems really were prisons? What kind of prisons might each of them be? Let’s look at each one:
Apple. This prison has the highest security of them all. It is a singular prison with extraordinarily high walls that govern almost every aspect of what you do. They decide what you listen to, what type of cell you get, and it is ruled over by a ruthless warden named Steve Jobs. And despite all that, it is great!
Each cell is a plush luxury suite overlooking the ocean. You can get movies ordered to your room all day and the music selection is great. Your cell mates are cool hipsters and they have great parties that last all night long. It is almost like staying at a five star hotel with the only catch being that you can’t ever leave.
Microsoft. These prison facilities are horrible. This is the largest, most difficult prison to escape from in the world but the security is horrible. Everyone is stealing each other’s data and you are sharing a cell with an angry 300 pound piece of malware. The prison warden, Steve Ballmer, walks around often claiming he wants a kinder gentler and more open prison, but everyone knows he is lying.
Solaris. This prison seems desolate and strangely empty.
Linux. This is the only platform that is not a prison. You are really free with Linux. People are congregating at will, building creative new structures. Yeah – maybe it isn’t as pretty as the luxury hotel prison that is Apple, but at least we are free. In the end it isn’t prison walls that win in technology. CompuServe and AOL were beaten by the internet. Centrally controlled mainframes were killed by the PC. Over time the best technology comes from innovation in unexpected places and while we are occasionally wooed by the pretty sounds of “You’ve Got Mail” or the stunning design of a new iPhone; we have all seen this movie before and know how it ends.
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I think you’re analogy is overwrought. Apple doesn’t absolutely control what you watch or listen to. There are all sorts of players available for Ogg Vorbis, Divx and pretty much every other codec known to man. It might be easier to just use iTMS but you are not locked in to that.
Not to pick sides but people use Apple because it pretty much works. They pick Linux because there is more freedom to tinker. An alternate analogy might be that Apple is like a modern Toyota and Linux is like a 1965 Chevy. When I open the hood on a new Toyota the engine compartment is packed and much of it is controlled by a computer whose software Toyota does not release. The old Chevy had a very open engine compartment. I could almost stand in there next to the engine while changing plugs, fiddling with the timing and such. Think of it like this, the Linux guy with an Apple laptop is like the guy lovingly restoring an old Camero who drives his Lexus down to Pep Boys to pick up parts for his project.
I do like the line “It is almost like staying at a five star hotel with the only catch being that you can’t ever leave.”
In answer to your question as to why many linux developers and enthusiasts give apple products a free pass and often even use them themselves.
I think mainly there are three main reasons.
1 - Apple isnt Microsoft and to many people thats good enough. The enemy of my enemy is my friend mentality.
2 - As most of the Mac user base is totally tech illiterate being a technically minded person really puts you in the position of being a kind of elite. The big fish in a small pond mentality. While in the Linux community no matter how knowledgeable you become there is always more to learn and many people much more advanced than yourself.
3 - Great marketing skills. How else can a company that produces many products that work no better than and sometimes not as well as competing products that cost one quarter to one half as much even stay in business? Putting aside the sheeplike user base you must conclude great marketing.
Well, you know what the goal is now, and it is not to make a clone of Windows anymore.
You say that “open source people seem to cut Apple some slack”, but you say that Linux isn’t as pretty as Apple!! What has apple that even remotely approaches Compiz-Fusion???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Fbk52Mk1w
It is completely mis-informative saying that apple looks better. Unless you were talking about the hardware design.
Funniest thing I’ve read in a week! To Jim’s question:
“Why do open source people seem to cut Apple some slack when it comes to their very closed proprietary platform?”
I honestly don’t know, UNLESS it has to do with the *ix-based OS X. Some of the smartest tech folks I’ve personally ever known called me up one day and said they had bought a mac. Next thing I know they’ve maxed out their credit cards buying Apple’s other junk, which is to the point of Gene Simmons’ marketing of the old KISS band! Microsoft only locks you into the software, but Apple locks you in and bolts you to the floor, hardware and all. I could never do anything but Linux from here on out. (And I’m very proud to say that.)
The fact you can’t see that Linux is a prison too shows just how captive your mind is, Jim. All operating systems are prisons, the difference is simply how willing you are to be incarcerated.
I don’t think that anyone believes that the Apple story on freedom or flexibility is in question. I personally have no illusions about that, and I use Apple products (as well as Linux) on a daily basis.
Fundamentally Apple creates products that work really well, are uncomplicated and have a long history of solving user problems. Linux on desktops, even after a decade of work (by people like me, in fact) still doesn’t work very well. For example, I have to keep an extra access point around at home so that my Linux machines can use wireless because it’s 2008 and WPA still doesn’t work right. People don’t want products that have flaws like that.
There’s also another fundamental difference here. Apple has something that Linux on Desktops does not - a model for sustainability. The investment required to compete with Apple or Microsoft on desktops is large and there are very few examples of large community-facing groups of desktop hackers who are working on products that have revenue that grows the investment over time. Red Hat’s team is large, but has remained relatively stagnant compared to the rest of the company. Novell’s team still exists, but much of the core of that team has moved on to other places. Canonical doesn’t invest at all.
There are some bright spots in mobile, but that’s not a replacement for desktop computers and most of those are consultant-oriented instead of product-oriented. It’s not a position of leverage or brand. And that’s an issue.
Anyway, it’s my opinion that if you want to build something that you want to see other people use then you have to make something that works fantastically well. Openness can also be a path to success, but it’s not enough of a selling point in today’s market. At least on the desktop.
If your “un-prison” is the only place you can go to, isn’t it still a prison?
Actually… Solaris isn’t a prison anymore…
My Desktop is Linux with a Compiz pimped KDE, one of my Notebooks is a HP NC6000 running Linux with a Compiz pimped KDE, my other Notebook is a last generation Macbook running Leopard and then I have an EeePC 901 with Windows XP Home and don’t forget the virtual machines on my Macbook and my Desktop, there you’ll find XP pro, too.
So why do I have a Macbook? It is cheap and doesn’t bother me. I think the UI is ugly and not consistent, i.E. Windows 3.1 like finder to start programs and 3D Timemachine for backups. Exposé and Dashboard, what’s that good for anyways, and spaces and stacks are bolted onto an UI which still has the old MacOS 7 look.
But under the UI there is everything I realy need, bash, perl, gcc, Apache, MySQL and even Informix. I don’t have to think about the OS and tweak it until I have WiFi, Bluetooth, G3 wireless etc.pp. it is there and it works without me tinkering.
I have Adobe Lightroom working with Photoshop Elements and the GIMP and Menalto Gallery on my Macbook, I use Inkscape and Neooffice and it works although one is gtk the other is QT and both need X11 and the others use Cocoa.
This is as open as I need it, I can pick the best from all platforms and have those running on a 4 pound machine for some 4 hours on batteries.
This is freedom for me.
A KDE Desktop with Compiz on Linux looks better and gives me all the flexibility for work, I need Windows for some Apps I don’t want to miss, and I realy need the portability of my EeePC which is unavailable with Linux for quite some time. But the Macbook is the best compromise between good looks, features, compatibility and price for me, and it can run the tools I want for my photography hobby.
XCode is pretty good, too and Mac Ports has nearly anything one might want.
I might give KDE4 on OSX a try sooner than later
Linux doensn’t work my ass. Proprietary Apple supports only a VERY NARROW range of hardware. Linux supports more hardware devices and architectures than any other OS. Linux RUNS THE INTERNET and works very well for me and millions of others on the desktop. Sure it’s not perfect but Ubuntu will surpass Apple.
>An alternate analogy might be that Apple is like a modern Toyota and Linux is like a >1965 Chevy.
Which falls into line with Apple gospel that Linux doenst innovate while Apple has invented such things as MP3 players and touch screen phones (!). Repeat the party line often enough and it becomes real. To you.
Im running a stable desktop environment called Gnome at work, I run both the kewl KDE3.59 and the cuttin edge 4.1 at home as well as XCFE and 2-3 others on my older machines. I’ve tried all the various eye candies like Beryl/Compiz/Fusion. I have stability, portability, scalability and cutting edge in desktop choices.
How old is Aqua? 8 years old?
Linux is free, costs nothing, is secure, highly configurable and its components from the kernel on down is always up to date instead of waiting for the optimum time to fleece the sheep for an update.
Linux is on the cutting edge, not the other way around.
Your backhanded comparison was like telling someone “you look pretty good for a fat chick.” Nice try, transfering one’s insecurities is textbook material in Psych.101.
I also don’t understand why OSS and Free Software people use Apple products. IMO, the only reason Apple isn’t perceived as evil is that it didn’t become the monopoly (Microsoft did.) If Apple had become the monopoly, it would have been ten times as dirty and underhanded as Microsoft ever was.
Interesting post, and I will say that I am guilty of the crime you are describing, I am spending 100% of my time developing for open source platforms that run on Linux, but I run a Mac. Why? Because it is the OS I am the most productive in. And truly OS X is a 2 faced feline, one side is the one you are describing with all the great apps Apple makes available for entertainment, etc.. - however there is another side which is the *NIX foundation which allows you to run pretty much anything you can run on Linux (even though not as well, but that’s usually more than enough for development).
However, I can say that each year, Linux is slowly gaining credibility on the desktop. It is surely a better alternative to Windows, but not quite yet to OS X (at least for developers like me), but this will change.
“Actually… Solaris isn’t a prison anymore…”
Sure is. Wake me up when multiple organizations are getting direct commit access like the Linux kernel and we will talk.
I guess one of the reasons we give Apple a break is because of the Unix kernel and the kernel, Darwin, being open source.
apple sounds like Hotel California
The line “It is almost like staying at a five star hotel with the only catch being that you can’t ever leave.” made me think of the song “Hotel California”: “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
I have to tell you guys I love what you are thinking - this coulda come from me - my mind just did not use those nice formulations (yet).
I have been using linux for 5 years now as my main os - everything I got to work - nothing you need from microsoft, really. I was satisfied and proud.
I still bought a macbookpro half a year ago. The reason was the nice hardware and I wanted to give osx a shot. There are several good things about e.g. the handling of it, the smoothness of everything working together … but when it comes down to really work with it I am simply missing the ‘emerge’ command in the terminal (yes I just love gentoo) The simplest task of syncing my pda with the mac would not work properly. Also I have no real control over apples backup solution time machine. Over time the machine just kept getting slower and slower. Also Thunderbird did not work properly…. the problems got bigger and I got less and less satisfied with os x.
I reinstalled the machine with 60GB for gentoo and 30GB for os x. The only time booting into os x now is when I am working on battery for 5 hours straight … thats the only thing I cannot achieve(3 hours max) on my MacBookPro-Gentoo edition yet.
As for the prison: I freed a MacBookPro from it and judging by the performance it is very happy about me doing so!
Greetings from Germany
Why apple seems to get a break with people around Linux and FLOSS? Because it gives them what they want. I don’t get your thought flow — people buy Apple and are satisfied with it, so let’s tell them that they get it wrong and that they actually shouldn’t be satisfied with it? Will you try to explain somebody that he should not like cheese, because it’s not that tasty? Nonsense.
I used Linux as my one and only desktop OS for several years and I bought a Mac instead. Why? I wanted UNIX and I wanted an OS, that would just work. I know, I know — it’s annoying to hear this Apple marketing sentence again. But sorry, it’s just true — at least with me (and a few millions other people).
It’s funny how people always connect Linux with freedom — for me Apple is more free. I hear Linux people: WOW, how can I say that when I can’t even hack their source code??? Freedom of OS is not about access to the source. It’s about the freedom to do what _YOU_ want and need instead of doing what _THE OS_ needs in order for something in it to work properly.
Daniel you are failing to see the point in this. The question was why linux geeks would choose apples osx over linux… of course as long as you are happy about what you got with os x you seem to be free but when one reaches these apple limits? The first limit is paying for every little crap you install… as a student I am not able to afford paying $50 for a sync tool (MissingSync e.g.)
Of course I would not have to pay for a sync tool if I bought an iPhone… which is bound to a contract taking even more money for (almost) nothing but little gadgets! I think you can see where this goes…
@J walsh & linux geek:
or is it “Hotel Cupertino”?
I’ve been running Linux since 1995 and have had a Linux box as my primary workstation for over 10 years. I bought my first mac for home use three years ago and I love the thing. While it may not be free like Linux, it does not put me in a prison in any way. I run the current release of emacs on it, which I compiled myself. Vim works. Bash, perl, Python, gcc, X11 etc. are all there. I can build most software packages on it that will compile on Linux, if I wish to. None of my data is held hostage by proprietary formats. I’ve temporarily moved all my files (music, photos, docs, everything) over to a Linux box without any problems at all. No prison there. So why did I get the mac? Well, I didn’t have to configure X - the graphical environment just worked. I didn’t have to tweak cups, my printer just worked. I didn’t have to edit /etc/udev/rules.d/70-blah.whatevere to use some USB device - they all just work. See the trend here? I’d love to see Linux eclipse the Mac but until that happens, the Mac is the system with the least hassle and limitations (other than hardware choice).
Apple notebooks at Linuxworld ok, but it wouldn’t surprise me if at least some of them were running Linux at the time. It also wouldn’t surprise me that if none of them were running Linux at the time, that at least some of them would have it installed on them, be that virtual in OS X, or physically on the hard disk.
Apple is not Microsoft, and Apple use a lot of FOSS in Mac OS X which is an OS that is argued by many computer users to be better than Windows. As a result many Linux users like it? Well a little bit more to it then just that why certain Linux users like it after all Mac OS X is based on BSD Unix.
If Apple had the monopoly instead of Microsoft I expect things wouldn’t be that much better.
Since Mac OS X uses a lot of FOSS many Linux users also like it. That and over all Mac OS X is a good OS.
I think that’s unfair. Apple is restrictive, Adobe is restrictive, Microsoft is restrictive and they’re all equally held in contempt in my mind. I haven’t owned an Apple product since Mac was on the PowerPC, and that was primarily because secondhand Macs were the only realistic way to get ahold of a non-x86 platform to hack on.
That’s changed, and Apple is very low on the totem pole when it comes to my buying decisions.
nGotme, the only thing I paid for for my Mac was Pukka — funny $16. I don’t have a problem with paying one-time fee to a guy that spends his time working on a good piece of SW. Everything else I managed to solve without buying some SW, I’m without illegal SW and I feel pretty free.
As regards mobile sync, I have a pretty old phone, so iSync does all the magic for me. You can try some iSync plugins, depending on the type of phone you own. But I saw some for some 10 Euro…
Wow, after reading all the comments, no one is really saying anything at all. I’ve used Linux as my desktop for many, many years, works great. I’ve used all those other OS’s, but Linux more then meets my needs. I’m a web developer, including design, programming, and anything else they tell me to do, all done under Linux. Ubuntu 8.04 to be specific. Maybe it’s like this, if I have two identical cars, and one will cost you, but the other is free, someone is sure to give me money. I have no idea why, but they will. Really I thought it was always about the apps. When Linux can run all the major apps native, then I’m sure Linux will win hands down. Computers have grown so much now that a open platform for all vendors to compete is almost required, and that’s where Linux wins. The reality is Apple is proprietary hardware and software (OS). MS is proprietary software (OS), but hardware ala cart. Linux is do what ever you like. When you hear Adobe say “Here’s PS Linux Beta” you’ll know it’s all over for the rest. Really enter what ever companies software you like. Many vendors have already said Linux will be supported. My next company laptop will be a Dell Ubuntu one. Besides, Linux is just the kernel, some day we may see MS Desktop Linux, Apple X Desktop Linux, etc. Nothing is stopping them from using Linux how they want. Why was OSX not based on Linux? Most software vendors are already on the Linux path, it’s the video game makers that should be coming soon. Quake Wars rocks! Can’t wait for UT3 Linux, hurry up!
” ‘Actually… Solaris isn’t a prison anymore…’
Sure is. Wake me up when multiple organizations are getting direct commit access like the Linux kernel and we will talk.”
“We will talk”, meaning that you will then come up with another criteria why you don’t consider OpenSolaris open? Multiple orgs already do have direct commit access to several consolidations AFAIK. Why does the Linux Foundation feel the need to FUD other open source projects (and specifically this one) ?
Great post Zemlin. This reminds me of a more security centered version of comparing an OS to a car dealership. But you got this…right on the…money???
Solaris: It used to be a prison, but it’s been converted into a hotel. Oddly, it looks about the same as Linux, even though Linux was never a prison. Apparently the Linux people, despite being free to do whatever they wanted, ended up building something that looked just like a prison but with no locks on the doors. They still claim to be freer, for some reason.
[…] reaction? Apple’s programmers and UI designers are very, very, good. As Jim Zemlin has pointed out, if Apple’s locked-down platform is a prison, it’s a velvet lined one. And I’m […]
[…] paraphrase Jim Zemlin, Apple is like a 5-star hotel you can never […]