[Cialug] OT: mac-mini?

[Stuart Thiessen]

I hear ya.  Actually within the major version (Panther, Tiger, etc.), 
Mac updates cost nothing. I went from 10.3 to 10.3.9 without paying 
anything extra.  10.3 to 10.4 will cost me $129. I lucked out for my 
mac mini and got in just as they were ready to release 10.4, so I got a 
cheaper upgrade for that ($10). I'll have to pay the normal upgrade 
cost for my laptop.

For my home computer, I need to have something that is very easy to use 
and basically intuitive. I did have Linux up at one time, but my wife 
wasn't too excited about it. She is more satisfied with Mac OS X 
because the user experience is more friendly compared to Linux.  Again, 
I have to say that personally, I find the Linux desktop a hard sell 
except for those who are willing to try something different. Even 
OpenOffice is something I promote to everyone I can, but many people 
complain about such and so a small feature that just isn't there in 
OpenOffice and they won't switch because Office has that feature. Even 
I have noticed that there are some very convenient features that are in 
Office but not in OpenOffice (actually I use NeoOffice, but same 
thing).

Apple has done an excellent job of presenting a polished interface that 
can compete well with Microsoft. I personally feel that Linux has come 
a long way, but for the average user, I am not sure that it is as 
friendly as the Mac interface yet. That is just my perspective.  I use 
Linux on the server side of things I do.  I've heard that Mac OS X for 
server side things is not quite up to par. So, I tend to be Linux on 
the server side and Mac on the client side.

While it is proprietary, I think it is a much more friendly OS and 
environment for Linux and open source advocates than Microsoft OS's. 
Further, I guess I think of the adage "The enemy of my enemy is my 
friend". While Microsoft is not necessarily "the enemy", it isn't 
nearly as friendly to open source as Apple is. For this time, Apple is 
an excellent competitor to Microsoft and its OS is friendly for Open 
Source, so I'd rather put my dollars with Apple than with MS. And if 
the person learns Mac OS X and maybe even delves into its Unix side, 
that is one step closer to Linux than that person would be under 
Windows.

:)

Stuart

On Oct 20, 2005, at 15:50, David Champion wrote:

> Barry Von Ahsen wrote:
>
>> Stuart Thiessen wrote:
>>> I am still on Panther (10.3) on my laptop so I don't know if the 
>>> improved Safari on 10.4 has changed
>> safari in 10.4 has "back" in the right-click/contextual menu.  that 
>> alone ought to be enough to justify an upgrade :) (having to mouse 
>> back all the way to the top drove me nuts in 10.3)
>> -barry
>
> Don't mean to sound all RMS here, but...
>
> The new version of Linux and / or Firefox didn't cost me anything. 
> That alone might be enough to justify not buying a Mac. How much do 
> those incremental MacOSX updates cost?
>
> Microsoft doesn't even charge for those - once I purchased WinXP, I 
> get incremental updates (as in SP2, and security releases) for no 
> additional charge. Dang, now you've got me sounding like a MS 
> fanboy...
>
> MacOSX is a nifty / pretty *nix, but it's:
>
> a. Proprietary (read today's comments on /. regarding OO.o and Carbon)
>
> b. Not OSS (would follow a. then, wouldn't it?)
>
> Uh, end rant.
>
> -dc
>
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