I’m not alone, others don’t get Macs either
It seems that a number of A-List geeks agree with me that Macs are a rip-off and quite frankly not that special; both Mark Pilgrim (author a Dive into Python and general Python guy see wikipedia) and Cory Doctorow (journalist, blogger [boingboing] and SF writer: see wikipedia) are both dumping Mac OS in favour of Linux on cheap commodity hardware.
You can spec a Lenovo (who make ThinkPads after buying IBMs PC division) to the absolute maximum of it’s capacity and it is still cheaper than a MacBook Pro and furthermore it is much much higher spec. Combine that with the fact that Ubuntu is easy to use and looks good and you have a very compelling reason not to by a Mac at all.
Mark also sights ideological reasons for not wanting to continue as a Mac user anymore:
but it is particularly galling to realize that if I bought a new Mac, I would be subsidizing the development of an operating system that contains code whose sole purpose is to lock me into a specific hardware platform.
This is an important point and general distinction, Linux is Open and encourages Openness of software design and coding, whilst Mac forces proprietary software and forces you to use your machine in the way they want you to.
Whilst I can’t agree with the choice of Ubuntu, preferring myself to use Gentoo, I do agree that Macs are becoming very overrated, overpriced and DRMed to death. I can feel a ground swell of opinion away from Macs and Mac fanboyism - not before time.
Update: This from another A-Lister Cedric Otaku also echos my thoughts. It seems that more and more people are realising that Mac OS X and Mac hardware are not a silver bullet for OS design. In fact many people think that OS X is actually quite rubbish.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Hurray Gentoo, I’ll drop my Mac for Linux … but wait … they did port Keynote, OmniGraffle, Pages, SubEtha, Fireworks, Illustrator and Camino to Linux … no wait .. they didn’t. Well then I think I keep my Mac. Sorry pal. Obviously it’s not the OS but the applications. A lesson a lot of language fanboys could learn too.
July 4th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
I presume you mean “they didn’t port”? You see this is part of the problem with Macs and other closed source OSes such as Windows. It encourages closed sources applications which keep you tied to the operating system and with macs that means the hardware too. You are paying a premium for the hardware so that you can use software that you have become dependent on. All the applications you mention have open source equivalents on Linux and their rate of improvement is increasing. I don’t see any possible way that proprietary software can keep track with this progress and empower people and organisations to decide the direction of that software.
I’m not particularly a ‘fanboy’ of any OS, I have preferences but I can see advantages in most the major OSes. For example Solaris has excellent SMP support and a great file system ZFS. OpenBSD has excellent security and useful license for redistribution. Even Windows has the positives like loads of people know how to use it. Lots of people think OS X looks nice and so on and on.
As for Gentoo, it’s right for me on my personal PC, I like to tinker, I would never dream of using it at work for mission critical servers, it just isn’t ready or designed for that.
I have no idea what your language comment is about, that’s just random.
July 4th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
I’m having problems getting anywhere near speccing a T60 with 2GB of RAM and 2×120GB HDs for less than the price of a MacBook Pro (I managed 2GB of RAM and 1×100GB HD - for just over the price (had to use the US stores for both, the UK store wouldn’t let me configure)), and apart from the graphics card I’m failing to notice the “much much higher spec” (and the processor is slower).
Macs can be little bit more expensive, but not by as much as you seem to think, particularly since the end of the PowerPC era.
“DRMed to death”? Well, iTunes uses DRM for purchases from the iTunes Music Store, admittedly, but what are the other examples?
Finally, the Mac doesn’t “force” proprietary software, you can run Linux on it, and if you meant OS X, there’s plenty of people doing open development on that too
As for this “ground swell of opinion away from Macs”, I’m not sure two, admittedly well known, bloggers really counts.
July 4th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
“All the applications you mention have open source equivalents on Linux and their rate of improvement is increasing.”
See, that’s the fundamental gap which makes OS and application comparisons senseless. For some people there is a difference between Pioneer and B&O and for some they are the same, just a stereo.
So I’m in the “There is a difference between Pioneer and B&O” and you’re in the “They are both stereos” camp. And for me, there is no equivalent for those applications. The MacOS applications I mentioned have better features (alpha channel PDF support with drag and drop, last time I checked the Linux apps couldn’t do that), features are better implemented and the applications are a pleasure to use. I’ve been using Linux and Windows for nearly 15 years now and still use them on a daily basis. The Linux application that comes closest to those applications is Xara for Illustrator, but there is especially no equivalent for Keynote or OmniGraffle. I can only guess, but I guess you have no long term experience with these Mac applications, which makes your statement about equivalent applications quite funny.
And a premium for the hardware? A Macbook for 1000 USD is a capable Java development machine (with additional 1.5gb RAM), I guess a Lenovo costs about the same (a V100 costs about 1000 USD, has a 1.66 instead of 1.83 Core Duo and a 12.1″ display instead of a 13″ display, no video camera, no remote control).
But in the end, I believe there are different people, who either see a difference or not. And it doesn’t make sense to claim there is no difference, when for some people there clearly is.
July 4th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
The MacBooks are priced at a premium. Though you do get a machine with very nice aesthetics that can run OS X, Windows, and Linux. The Mac minis are priced more reasonably.
I love both OS X and Linux. My desktop is running Ubuntu now. I have a G4 PowerBook running OS X, but that was issued to me by work so I can’t say that I’ve actually plunked down my own money for a Mac. Would I? Hard to say. A few months ago I think I would’ve said yes, because of OS X and apps like iTunes and Quicksilver. But now with the latest Ubuntu, GNOME, KDE, etc., things are coming along nicely. GNOME deskbar-applet is definitely still not Quicksilver but maybe someday it will be comparable and I haven’t yet checked out the media players like Amarok and Banshee to see if they’re good enough to substitute for iTunes.
Macs still have the best out of the box experience for newbies and geeks who don’t want to waste a lot of time tinkering to get things to work. Setting up things like wireless on Linux is still a pain in the butt, because the chipset vendors aren’t exactly open.
July 4th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
Thanks guys you’ve given me something to think about. I can’t possibly address all your points but some of your counter points are well made and well taken.
To summaries though, I still think Macs are over prices as a hardware software bundle. I think they are able to trade off their brand here rather than any particular definitive advantage (IMO). I think their major disadvantage is being proprietary (OSX) and the majority of the software that people quote as reasons to use Mac are also proprietary.
Oh and you are right, I freely admit I haven’t spent any significant quality time with a Mac since 1991 :o. I have however test driven a modern Mac for a couple of days. The reason I can’t give it a longer is because the owner wanted it back and there is no easy, cheap way of seriously test driving one because they are expensive and so are the apps that run on it.
Macs have their place I agree - let a 1000 flowers bloom as everyone is so fond of saying these days.
Oh and if anyone wants to send me a Mac to try I’ll be happy to do a full extended test drive
Also, I’m curious, why does everyone quote them as such good Java developer machines… what gives?
July 5th, 2006 at 3:22 am
I dropped Windows for Gentoo almost 4 years ago. After seeing the high penetration of Macs in the Java community, I decided to get a Powerbook (G4) and see how I went. Long story short, I can’t even bring myself to think about getting a computer that isn’t a Mac these days. Yes they are more expensive, but quite frankly I don’t care. I’m happy to pay the money for being able to use OS X.
Anywhere I can’t use a Mac, it’d be Gentoo all the way, without doubt (and I still have about 3 boxes running it). However, OS X is just too good. I think a number of linux people get put off at first because everyone underestimates the effect of the little changes (like drag-and-drop install). The environment is quite different, but because it’s a GUI people just assume everything is pretty much universal but for the wrapping. This is evident in the way so many people who have never used OS X call simply refers to Mac machines as overpriced hardware. You don’t buy a Mac for the hardware, you buy it for OS X.
There are problems, as with every OS, but at a very fundamental level, it just gets out of your way.
That, and you can get access to a *nix command line, death to the windows command prompt!
July 5th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Well with IDEA I guess there is no big difference to a Linux box to develop Java
But it’s easier to get talking to women at Starbucks with a Macbook 
July 5th, 2006 at 6:37 am
@tim
OK, but the only concrete reason you give is drag & drop install which on its own doesn’t justify the price (or the proprietary nature of OS X).
I’m only interested in cold hard reasons rather than subjective anecdotes. The web is littered with ‘I’d never go back after try Mac OS’, I want to know why! Right now I still can’t see it, however, as always I’m prepared to admit I’m wrong if I could just see some more solid reason why it is better (better for Java, Ruby and C++ Development than Gentoo running modular X with XGL and Compiz). Right now I’m not seeing anything compelling.
July 5th, 2006 at 7:28 am
@Stephan
I like your thinking but I’m a happily married man
July 5th, 2006 at 11:11 am
@andy: me not yet, but don’t tell my girl friend
July 5th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
I just got a MacBook as replacement for my Ubuntu box.
OS X is simply put a superior OS. Superior to Windows and superior to the Linux end user GUIs out there that insist in ripping off Windows for the sake of market compatibility.
I have nothing against Ubuntu, i liked it a lot, i even donated to it. But let’s not kid ourselves, it is not even close to OS X.
OS X just works, every time, all the time, out of the box, in a really smart efficient manner.
Philosophical considerations apart, i would not go back to linux from OS X, why should I, I have Free BSD right here.
As for windows, if you don’t mind bugs, crashes, freezes , bugs, virii and utter chaos, then Microsoft is your ticket.
July 6th, 2006 at 4:43 am
You can’t line it up and compare features. The reason the web is full of people saying “I’d never go back” is because a straight “It has X, Y and Z, thus making it better” doesn’t exist.
It’s a bit like Java 5. At first, generics look ugly and heavy handed, especially when you get into the more advanced cases. However, slowly, after spending some time with it you start to “feel” the reason for them. Then you start to see how they enable many of the other language enhancements (like for for-in loop, etc…) and soon you’re in a position where it has changed the way you work without you even really being aware of it.
The reason there is such a high density of Apple hardware in the Java community is exactly this reason. When you take away the need to run windows (for example) and free a developer to choose whichever OS they really want, many of them migrate to OS X.
The soul of the Mac has nothing to do with the hardware, it’s all OS X. Until you spend more than a day or two with it, you’ll never find out why the web is full of people exclaiming that they’ll never go back.